In the context of cybersecurity, IT-operated assets refer to any hardware or software components within your organization's IT environment that are owned, managed, and maintained by your internal IT department or staff. These assets form the core of your organization's technology infrastructure and are essential for supporting business operations.

Here are some key characteristics of IT-operated assets:

• Ownership: Your organization has full ownership and control over these assets.

• Management: Your internal IT team is responsible for the operation, maintenance, and security of these assets.

• Access: Your IT staff has full access to configure, manage, and troubleshoot these assets.

• Visibility: You have direct visibility into the configuration and security posture of these assets.

Examples of IT-operated assets:

• On-premises servers: Physical servers located within your organization's data center.

• Network infrastructure: Routers, switches, firewalls, and other networking equipment that your IT team manages.

• End-user devices: Laptops, desktops, mobile devices, and printers used by employees.

• Internal applications: Custom-built applications developed and maintained by your IT team.

• Databases: Databases that store critical business data.

• Security tools: Security information and event management (SIEM) systems, intrusion detection systems, and vulnerability scanners managed by your security team.

Why are IT-operated assets important in cybersecurity?

• Core infrastructure: These assets form the backbone of your organization's IT operations, and any compromise could significantly disrupt business operations.

• Direct control: You have direct control over the security of these assets, giving you the ability to implement strong security measures and respond quickly to threats.

• Visibility and accountability: You have full visibility into the configuration and security posture of these assets, making it easier to identify and address vulnerabilities.

• Compliance: Ensuring the security of IT-operated assets is crucial for complying with various regulations and industry standards.

Securing IT-operated assets requires:

• Strong security policies: Implementing comprehensive security policies and procedures for managing and protecting these assets.

• Access control: Enforcing strong authentication and authorization mechanisms to limit access to sensitive systems and data.

• Vulnerability management: Regularly scanning for vulnerabilities and applying patches to keep systems up-to-date.

• Security awareness training: Educating employees about security best practices and threats.

• Incident response planning: Developing and regularly testing incident response plans to handle security incidents effectively.

By effectively securing your IT-operated assets, you can establish a strong foundation for your organization's overall cybersecurity posture and protect critical business operations from cyber threats.

ThreatNG, while primarily focused on external attack surface management, can also play a valuable role in securing IT-operated assets by providing visibility, context, and insights that complement your internal security practices. Here's how:

1. Identifying Shadow IT:

• Domain Intelligence: ThreatNG can discover unknown or forgotten IT-operated assets that may be connected to the internet, such as development servers, testing environments, or rogue cloud instances. This helps you gain a complete inventory of your IT assets and identify potential shadow IT that could pose security risks.

• Cloud and SaaS Exposure: This module can identify unsanctioned cloud services or SaaS applications that employees may use without IT approval, highlighting potential security gaps and data leakage risks.

2. Prioritizing Vulnerabilities:

• Known Vulnerabilities: ThreatNG identifies known vulnerabilities in your IT-operated systems and applications, providing context and prioritizing remediation efforts based on the severity of the vulnerabilities and their potential impact on your organization.

• Search Engine Exploitation: This module helps you understand how susceptible your IT-operated assets are to attacks that leverage search engine techniques to discover vulnerabilities. This allows you to address weaknesses that could be exploited by attackers proactively.

3. Enhancing Internal Security Practices:

• Sensitive Code Exposure: This module can scan public code repositories for exposed credentials, API keys, or sensitive information related to your IT-operated assets. This helps you identify and address potential security risks within your internal codebase.

• Social Media Monitoring: ThreatNG can monitor social media for mentions of your organization and identify potential data leaks or employee behavior that could inadvertently expose sensitive information about your IT-operated assets.

4. Strengthening Incident Response:

• Dark Web Monitoring: ThreatNG actively scans the dark web for mentions of your organization, leaked credentials, and planned attacks, providing early warnings that could help you protect your IT-operated assets.

• Correlation Evidence Questionnaires: This feature can help streamline communication and collaboration between your security team and IT operations during incident response, facilitating a faster and more effective response to security events.

Complementary Solutions:

ThreatNG can integrate with existing security tools to enhance your overall security posture for IT-operated assets:

• Vulnerability Scanners: Integrate with internal vulnerability scanners to gain a more comprehensive view of your IT-operated assets and prioritize remediation efforts.

• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): Feed ThreatNG's findings into your SIEM to correlate external threats with internal security events and gain a holistic view of your security posture.

• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): Combine ThreatNG's external threat intelligence with EDR solutions to detect and respond to threats targeting your IT-operated endpoints.

Examples:

• Discovering a Forgotten Web Server: ThreatNG's Domain Intelligence module identifies a web server set up for a temporary project and forgotten. This server could be running outdated software and pose a security risk.

• Identifying Leaked Credentials: ThreatNG's Sensitive Code Exposure module discovers an employee accidentally committed a file containing database credentials to a public code repository. This allows you to quickly revoke the credentials and prevent unauthorized access to your database.

By providing external context and threat intelligence, ThreatNG complements your internal security practices and helps you secure your IT-operated assets more effectively.