Internet-Facing Assets
In cybersecurity, Internet Facing Assets (IFAs) are any digital resources, systems, or services within an organization's infrastructure that are directly accessible or interact with the public Internet. These assets act as points of contact between an organization and the external world, making them potential targets for cyberattacks, unauthorized access, and data breaches.
Examples of IFAs include:
Websites and Web Applications: These are often the most visible and accessible parts of an organization's online presence.
Email Servers: These handle communication with the outside world and are prime targets for phishing attacks and spam.
Cloud Services: These services, such as SaaS platforms or IaaS resources, are accessed via the Internet and can be vulnerable if misconfigured.
VPN Gateways: These allow remote access to internal networks and can become entry points for attackers if not properly secured.
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Servers: These enable remote system administration and can be exploited if weak passwords or outdated versions are used.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Servers: These facilitate file transfers and can be misused for unauthorized data exfiltration or malware delivery.
IFAs are crucial for businesses in today's connected world but also represent a significant cybersecurity risk. Organizations need to implement robust security measures, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, vulnerability scanning, and strong access controls, to protect their IFAs and mitigate the risk of cyberattacks.
How ThreatNG Helps Manage Internet-Facing Assets
ThreatNG's comprehensive capabilities across external attack surface management, digital risk protection, and security ratings provide significant advantages in managing internet-facing assets. It accomplishes this by offering a holistic approach that covers discovery, assessment, continuous monitoring, reporting, and intelligence.
Key Areas Where ThreatNG Assists:
Uncovering and Inventorying Assets: ThreatNG goes beyond basic scans and dives deep into the open, deep, and dark web to discover all internet-facing assets, including domains, subdomains, cloud services, SaaS applications, social media profiles, code repositories, and even mentions on the dark web. It ensures a comprehensive view of your digital footprint, reducing the risk of unknown or forgotten assets. ThreatNG can perform purely external unauthenticated discovery using no connectors. It discovers various SaaS implementations associated with the organization under investigation.
Assessing Vulnerabilities and Risks: The platform assesses each discovered asset for various vulnerabilities and risks, such as misconfigurations, outdated software, weak passwords, exposed sensitive data, and susceptibility to attacks like BEC, phishing, ransomware, or subdomain takeover. Its advanced capabilities, like analyzing code repositories and archived web pages, help uncover hidden risks that traditional security solutions might miss. It derives Breach and ransomware Susceptibility from dark web presence (compromised credentials, ransomware events, and gang activity).
Continuous Monitoring and Threat Intelligence: ThreatNG doesn't stop at a one-time assessment. It continuously monitors all organizations' external attack surfaces, digital risks, and security ratings. It monitors all assets and the surrounding digital landscape for emerging threats, data breaches, compromised credentials, ransomware events, ESG violations, and brand damage. Its intelligence repositories, including dark web monitoring, provide real-time insights into potential attacks and risks, enabling proactive security measures. ThreatNG tracks over 70 Ransomware Gangs.
Prioritizing and Remediation: ThreatNG assigns security ratings and risk scores to assets, providing actionable insights to prioritize remediation efforts. It helps organizations focus on the most critical vulnerabilities and risks first, maximizing the impact of their security resources.
Integration with Complementary Solutions: ThreatNG seamlessly integrates with existing security tools like firewalls, vulnerability scanners, and SIEM systems. It allows organizations to leverage ThreatNG's insights and intelligence within their broader security ecosystem for more effective and efficient risk management.
Specific Examples of ThreatNG in Action with Investigation Modules:
Domain Intelligence: ThreatNG uses DNS intelligence to discover subdomains an organization may not know. It then checks for outdated SSL certificates, misconfigured DNS records, and exposed APIs or development environments that attackers could exploit. ThreatNG's Domain Intelligence module covers certificates, subdomain headers, vulnerabilities, and sensitive ports.
Social Media: By monitoring social media posts, ThreatNG can identify sensitive information inadvertently shared by employees, like internal project names or upcoming product launches. It can also detect phishing links or impersonating accounts targeting the organization. ThreatNG provides social media posts from the organization under investigation, breaking out the content copy, hashtags, links, and tags.
Sensitive Code Exposure: ThreatNG analyzes public code repositories to identify exposed secrets like API keys, passwords, or database connection strings. It also checks mobile apps associated with the organization for security vulnerabilities and potential data leaks. ThreatNG uncovers digital risks that include Access Credentials, Generic Credentials, Cloud Credentials, Security Credentials, and Other Secrets.
Search Engine Exploitation: The platform uses advanced search engine queries to find sensitive information the organization might have accidentally exposed online, like error messages revealing system details, configuration files, or privileged folders. ThreatNG helps users investigate an organization’s susceptibility to exposing information via search engines.
Cloud and SaaS Exposure: ThreatNG inventories all the organization's cloud services, sanctioned or unsanctioned, and checks for misconfigurations like open S3 buckets or excessive user permissions. It also assesses SaaS implementations for vulnerabilities and potential data leaks. ThreatNG evaluates cloud services and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.
Archived Web Pages: By analyzing archived web pages, ThreatNG can discover outdated or forgotten pages that might still contain sensitive information or vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit. ThreatNG analyzes archived web pages.
Dark Web Presence: ThreatNG's dark web monitoring identifies mentions of the organization or its employees, revealing potential threats like leaked credentials, planned attacks, or stolen data being sold. ThreatNG provides Organizational mentions of related or Defined People, Places, or Things, Associated Ransomware Events, and Associated Compromised Credentials.
Sentiment and Financials: By monitoring news articles, social media sentiment, and financial reports, ThreatNG can identify reputational risks or financial difficulties that might impact the organization's cybersecurity posture. ThreatNG uses Organizational Related Lawsuits, Layoff Chatter, SEC Filings of Publicly Traded US Companies, especially their Risk and Oversight Disclosures, SEC Form 8-Ks, and ESG Violations.
ThreatNG's holistic approach and superior discovery and assessment capabilities provide a powerful solution for managing internet-facing assets. By proactively identifying and mitigating risks, organizations can significantly enhance their security posture and protect their valuable digital assets.
