Exposure Management

Exposure Management in cybersecurity refers to the continuous process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating security risks associated with an organization's entire attack surface. It's a proactive approach to cybersecurity that aims to minimize the potential impact of cyberattacks by reducing the organization's exposure to threats.

Here's a breakdown of critical aspects:

Goals:

• Identify all exposures: Gain complete visibility into all assets, systems, and applications accessible to potential attackers. This includes internal and external-facing assets, cloud services, IoT devices, and third-party connections.

• Assess and prioritize risks: Evaluate the potential impact of each exposure, considering factors like the sensitivity of data involved, the likelihood of an attack, and the potential business impact.

• Mitigate risks: Implement appropriate security controls and measures to reduce the likelihood and impact of successful attacks. It may involve patching vulnerabilities, strengthening access controls, configuring security settings, and implementing security awareness training.

• Continuous monitoring: Monitor the attack surface for new exposures, changes in the threat landscape, and the effectiveness of existing security controls.

Key Components:

• Attack Surface Management (ASM): Discovering and mapping all assets and systems that comprise the organization's attack surface.

• Vulnerability Management: Identifying and prioritizing vulnerabilities in systems and applications.

• Threat Intelligence: Gathering and analyzing information about potential threats and attack vectors.

• Risk Assessment: Evaluating the likelihood and impact of different cyberattacks.

• Security Ratings: Utilizing security ratings to assess the security posture of the organization and its third-party vendors.

Benefits:

• Reduced attack surface: Minimizing the number of potential entry points for attackers.

• Proactive security posture: Shifting from a reactive to a proactive approach to cybersecurity.

• Improved risk management: Making informed decisions about security investments and resource allocation.

• Enhanced compliance: Meeting regulatory requirements and industry standards for data security.

• Increased resilience: Strengthening the organization's ability to withstand and recover from cyberattacks.

How Exposure Management Differs from Traditional Vulnerability Management:

While vulnerability management focuses on identifying and remediating specific vulnerabilities, exposure management takes a broader view. It considers the entire attack surface, including the context of how assets are interconnected and the potential business impact of an attack. It allows for a more comprehensive and prioritized approach to risk mitigation.

ThreatNG is well-suited to support a robust Exposure Management program due to its comprehensive approach to external attack surface management, digital risk protection, and security ratings. Here's how it helps:

1. Comprehensive Exposure Identification:

• External Attack Surface Management (EASM): ThreatNG excels at discovering and mapping an organization's external attack surface, including unknown or forgotten assets. It provides complete visibility into potential exposures.

  • Example: ThreatNG identifies a forgotten subdomain hosting an outdated version of the company's website, which contains vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit.

• Domain Intelligence: This module provides deep insights into the organization's domain infrastructure, identifying potential weaknesses like misconfigured DNS records, outdated SSL certificates, or exposed APIs.

  • Example: ThreatNG discovers that a company's email server uses an outdated SSL certificate, making it vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.

• Cloud and SaaS Exposure: This module identifies vulnerabilities in cloud and SaaS implementations, such as unsanctioned cloud services, exposed cloud storage buckets, or misconfigured SaaS applications.

  • Example: ThreatNG finds a company's cloud storage bucket misconfigured, allowing public access to sensitive data.

• Social Media, Sensitive Code Exposure, Online Sharing Exposure: These modules identify potential data leaks and exposures through social media, code repositories, and online sharing platforms.

  • Example: ThreatNG discovers that an employee has inadvertently shared confidential company documents on a public file-sharing platform.

2. Risk Assessment and Prioritization:

• Superior Discovery and Assessment Capabilities: ThreatNG goes beyond essential vulnerability scanning to assess susceptibility to attack vectors, such as BEC, phishing, ransomware, and web application hijacking. It allows organizations to prioritize risks based on their potential impact.

• Security Ratings: ThreatNG provides objective security ratings reflecting an organization's security posture. These ratings help prioritize remediation efforts and track improvements over time.

• Intelligence Repositories: ThreatNG leverages threat intelligence from various sources, including the dark web, to identify emerging threats and assess their potential impact on the organization.

3. Continuous Monitoring and Mitigation:

• Continuous Monitoring: ThreatNG continuously monitors the organization's attack surface for new exposures, changes in the threat landscape, and the effectiveness of existing security controls.

• Reporting: ThreatNG provides detailed reports that offer insights into the organization's security posture, enabling informed decision-making and risk mitigation strategies.

4. Complementary Solutions:

ThreatNG can integrate with other security solutions to enhance exposure management:

• Vulnerability Scanners: ThreatNG can complement vulnerability scanners by providing visibility into the external attack surface and identifying vulnerabilities that may not be detectable through internal scans.

• Threat Intelligence Platforms: ThreatNG can integrate with threat intelligence platforms to enrich its data and provide more comprehensive risk assessments.

• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Systems: ThreatNG can integrate with SIEM systems to provide real-time threat intelligence and enhance security monitoring capabilities.

5. Examples with Investigation Modules:

• Domain Intelligence: ThreatNG identifies a company's website with a misconfigured DNS record, potentially allowing attackers to redirect traffic to a malicious site.

• Cloud and SaaS Exposure: ThreatNG discovers that a company's Salesforce instance has weak password policies, increasing the risk of unauthorized access.

• Sensitive Code Exposure: ThreatNG finds that a developer has accidentally uploaded code to a public repository containing API keys that grant access to sensitive customer data.

By leveraging ThreatNG's comprehensive capabilities, organizations can effectively manage their exposure to cyber threats, reduce their attack surface, and improve their overall security posture.