Understanding your external attack surface is crucial for organizations of all sizes and types. This refers to all the publicly accessible assets and data that malicious actors could exploit to compromise your organization's security. It encompasses everything from websites and cloud services to sensitive employee information and financial records. Why is this so important for everyone?

• Evolving Threat Landscape: Cyber threats constantly evolve, and attackers are becoming more sophisticated. Organizations need to be proactive in identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities to stay ahead of these threats.

• Reputational Damage: A successful cyberattack can severely damage an organization's reputation, losing customer trust and business opportunities.

• Financial Losses: Cyberattacks can result in significant economic losses due to stolen data, disrupted operations, and regulatory fines.

• Compliance Requirements: Many industries have regulatory requirements for data security and privacy, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

• Operational Disruption: Cyberattacks can disrupt critical business operations, leading to downtime and lost productivity.

Crucially, this also impacts Supply Chain Security and Third-Party Risk Management. Your organization's security is only as strong as the weakest link in your supply chain. Attackers often target smaller vendors or suppliers with weaker security postures to gain access to larger organizations. By understanding your external attack surface, you can:

• Identify and assess the risks associated with your suppliers and vendors.

• Ensure that your partners have adequate security controls in place.

• Monitor your supply chain for potential vulnerabilities.

By proactively identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities across your external attack surface, you can strengthen your security posture, reduce the risk of falling victim to cyber threats, and protect your entire supply chain.

Examples of External Attack Vectors:

• Technical Attack Vectors: These exploit vulnerabilities in technology and systems.

• Web application vulnerabilities: Weaknesses in website code that attackers can exploit to gain unauthorized access or steal data, such as cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and insecure authentication.

• Manual approaches: Regular code reviews and penetration testing.

• Tools: Vulnerability scanners, web application firewalls (WAFs).

• Subdomain takeover: Gaining control of a subdomain and using it for malicious purposes like phishing or malware distribution.

• Manual approaches: Regularly review and update DNS records and monitor subdomains for changes.

• Tools: Subdomain monitoring tools, DNS security solutions.

• Exposed sensitive ports: Open ports on internet-facing systems that allow attackers to access internal systems and data.

• Manual approaches: Regular port scanning and firewall configuration reviews.

• Tools: Port scanners, network monitoring tools.

• Known vulnerabilities: Unpatched security flaws in software or hardware that attackers can exploit.

• Manual approaches: Patch management processes, vulnerability assessments.

• Tools: Vulnerability scanners, patch management software.

• Code secret exposure: Sensitive information like API keys and access tokens accidentally revealed in public code repositories.

• Manual approaches: Code reviews and security training for developers.

• Tools: Static code analysis tools, secrets detection tools.

• Cloud and SaaS exposure: Misconfigured cloud services and SaaS applications that can lead to data breaches.

• Manual approaches: Cloud security audits, access control reviews.

• Tools: Cloud security posture management (CSPM) tools, cloud access security brokers (CASBs).

• Strategic Attack Vectors: These target an organization's reputation, brand, and decision-making.

• Brand impersonation: Attackers posing as a legitimate organization to trick people into giving up personal information or downloading malware.

• Manual approaches: Brand monitoring, takedown requests for fraudulent websites and social media accounts.

• Tools: Brand monitoring tools and phishing detection solutions.

• Social media threats: Compromised social media accounts are used to spread malicious content or misinformation.

• Manual approaches: Social media account security audits and employee training on social media best practices.

• Tools: Social media monitoring tools and account takeover protection solutions.

• Dark web presence: Sensitive information about the organization or its employees being found on the dark web, indicating potential breaches or vulnerabilities.

• Manual approaches: Dark web monitoring, employee training on data security.

• Tools: Dark web monitoring tools, threat intelligence platforms.

• Negative sentiment and financial events: Negative news, lawsuits, and SEC filings can damage an organization's reputation and make it a more attractive target for attackers.

• Manual approaches: Public relations and crisis communication planning, reputation monitoring.

• Tools: Sentiment analysis tools and media monitoring solutions.

• Operational Attack Vectors: These exploit weaknesses in business processes and human behavior.

• Phishing attacks: Emails or messages designed to trick employees into clicking on malicious links or opening infected attachments.

• Manual approaches: Employee security awareness training, phishing simulations.

• Tools: Email filtering solutions, anti-phishing software.

• Business email compromise (BEC): Attackers impersonate executives or vendors to initiate fraudulent financial transactions.

• Manual approaches: Multi-factor authentication for financial transactions, employee training on BEC scams.

• Tools: Email security solutions and fraud detection systems.

• Supply chain attacks: Compromising an organization's suppliers or vendors to gain access to its systems or data.

• Manual approaches: Vendor risk assessments and security audits of suppliers.

• Tools: Third-party risk management solutions and supply chain security platforms.

• Ransomware attacks: Encrypting an organization's data and demanding a ransom for its release.

• Manual approaches: Regular data backups and incident response planning.

• Tools: Anti-ransomware software, endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions.

• Financial Attack Vectors: These directly target an organization's financial assets and data.

• Financial data exposure: Compromise of bank accounts, payment information, and financial records.

• Manual approaches: Strong access controls for financial systems and regular security assessments.

• Tools: Data loss prevention (DLP) solutions and intrusion detection systems (IDS).

• SEC filings: Publicly traded companies' SEC filings contain sensitive information that attackers can exploit.

• Manual approaches: Careful review of SEC filings before publication, data minimization in filings.

• Tools: Data leak prevention solutions and document redaction tools.

ThreatNG is a comprehensive external attack surface management solution that offers a variety of capabilities to help organizations identify and mitigate cyber risks. Here's how ThreatNG can help manage and minimize the external attack surface:

1. External Discovery: ThreatNG automatically discovers and maps an organization's internet-facing assets, including websites, subdomains, cloud services, and more. This provides a comprehensive view of the attack surface, including unknown or forgotten assets.

2. External Assessment: ThreatNG assesses the discovered assets for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and security risks. This helps identify weaknesses that attackers could exploit.

• ThreatNG's assessment capabilities include evaluating the susceptibility of web applications to hijacking, subdomain takeover, BEC and phishing attacks, brand damage, data leaks, and ransomware. It also assesses exposure to cyber, ESG, supply chain and third-party risks.

• For each assessment, ThreatNG provides a detailed breakdown of the findings. For example, the Web Application Hijack Susceptibility assessment analyzes the parts of a web application accessible from the outside world to identify potential entry points for attackers.

• The Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility assessment analyzes the website's subdomains, DNS records, SSL certificate statuses, and other relevant factors.

• The BEC & Phishing Susceptibility assessment is derived from Sentiment and financial findings, Domain Intelligence, and Dark Web Presence.

3. Reporting: ThreatNG generates detailed reports on the attack surface, vulnerabilities, and security ratings. These reports help organizations understand their security posture and prioritize remediation efforts.

4. Continuous Monitoring: ThreatNG monitors the external attack surface for changes and new threats. This helps organizations avoid emerging risks and maintain a strong security posture.

5. Investigation Modules: ThreatNG provides in-depth investigation modules for domains, social media, sensitive code exposure, cloud and SaaS exposure, online sharing exposure, sentiment and financials, archived web pages, dark web presence, and technology stack. These modules help analyze potential attack vectors and identify specific threats. For example:

• Domain Intelligence module provides detailed information about a domain, including its DNS records, subdomains, email addresses, and TLS certificates.

• The Sensitive Code Exposure module scans public code repositories for sensitive information such as API keys, access tokens, and database credentials.

• The Cloud and SaaS Exposure module identifies the organization's cloud services and SaaS applications and assesses their security posture.

• The Dark Web Presence module searches for mentions of the organization on the dark web and identifies any compromised credentials or other sensitive information that may be available.

• The Technology Stack module identifies the technologies the organization uses, which can help identify potential vulnerabilities.

6. Intelligence Repositories: ThreatNG leverages intelligence repositories on the dark web, compromised credentials, ransomware events, groups, known vulnerabilities, ESG violations, bug bounty programs, SEC Form 8-Ks, and Bank Identification Numbers. This threat intelligence helps organizations understand the broader threat landscape and proactively defend against attacks.

Work with Complementary Solutions: ThreatNG can work with complementary security solutions like vulnerability scanners, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems. ThreatNG's external attack surface management capabilities complement these solutions by providing visibility into internet-facing assets and risks.

Examples of ThreatNG Helping:

• ThreatNG helped a financial institution discover a subdomain takeover vulnerability on one of its forgotten marketing websites. The organization prevented a potential phishing attack by identifying and remediating this vulnerability.

• ThreatNG helped a healthcare organization identify sensitive patient data exposed on a misconfigured cloud storage bucket. By securing the bucket, the organization prevented a potential data breach.

Examples of ThreatNG Working with Complementary Solutions:

• ThreatNG integrates with a vulnerability scanner to provide detailed vulnerability assessment reports on internet-facing assets. This helps organizations prioritize remediation efforts based on the severity of the vulnerabilities.

• ThreatNG integrates with a firewall to provide real-time threat intelligence. This helps the firewall block malicious traffic and prevent attacks.