Security Ratings

In the world of cybersecurity, Security Ratings are like credit scores for an organization's online security. They provide an objective, quantifiable measure of an organization's cybersecurity posture, helping to understand its susceptibility to cyberattacks.

Think of it this way: Just like a credit score summarizes your financial health, a security rating summarizes your organization's security health.

Here's a breakdown:

• Data-driven assessment: Security ratings are generated by analyzing various data points collected from public and private sources. This includes information about the organization's:

  • External-facing digital assets: Websites, servers, applications, cloud services, etc.

  • Security controls: Firewalls, intrusion detection systems, email security, etc.

  • Vulnerabilities: Known weaknesses in systems and software.

  • Past security incidents: Data breaches, malware infections, etc.

  • Security practices: Employee training, password policies, incident response plans, etc.

• Objective measurement: The goal is to provide an unbiased, data-driven assessment of an organization's security performance. This allows for comparisons with other organizations and industry benchmarks.

• Continuous monitoring: Security ratings are typically updated regularly to reflect changes in the organization's security posture. This helps organizations stay informed about their risk level and take necessary actions.

• Easy-to-understand score: Security ratings are often presented as a numerical score or a letter grade (similar to credit scores), making it easy to understand the overall risk level.

Why are Security Ratings important?

• Risk management: Security ratings help organizations understand their own security posture and identify areas for improvement.

• Third-party risk assessment: They help assess the security risk of vendors and business partners, enabling informed decisions about who to work with.

• Due diligence: Security ratings provide a quick and easy way to assess the security of an organization during mergers and acquisitions or investment decisions.

• Cyber insurance: Insurance companies may use security ratings to assess the risk of cyberattacks and determine premiums.

• Compliance: Some regulations and industry standards require organizations to demonstrate their cybersecurity posture, and security ratings can help with this.

How are Security Ratings used?

• Internal risk management: Identifying weaknesses and prioritizing security efforts.

• Vendor risk management: Selecting and managing vendors based on their security posture.

• Cyber insurance: Obtaining and maintaining cyber insurance coverage.

• Mergers and acquisitions: Assessing the security risk of potential acquisitions.

• Investor relations: Demonstrating cybersecurity commitment to investors.

Security Ratings are becoming increasingly important in today's business landscape, where cyber threats are constantly evolving. They provide a valuable tool for organizations to understand and manage their cybersecurity risk.

ThreatNG is built to provide comprehensive security ratings that go beyond basic vulnerability assessments. Here's how its features and capabilities contribute to a robust security rating system:

1. Data-Driven Assessment:

• Extensive Data Collection: ThreatNG gathers data from a wide range of sources, including the open web, deep web, and dark web. This ensures a comprehensive view of an organization's security posture, considering various threat vectors and potential risks.

• Domain Intelligence: The Domain Intelligence module performs deep analysis of an organization's domain and subdomains, identifying vulnerabilities in DNS records, SSL certificates, exposed APIs, and web applications. This data provides valuable insights into the organization's security hygiene and potential weaknesses in its online presence.

• Sensitive Code Exposure: By scanning public code repositories, ThreatNG uncovers sensitive data exposure, including API keys, credentials, and security configurations. This helps identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited to compromise the organization.

• Cloud and SaaS Exposure: ThreatNG assesses the security posture of cloud services and SaaS applications the organization uses, identifying misconfigurations, unauthorized access, and potential data leakage points.

• Dark Web Presence: ThreatNG actively monitors the dark web for mentions of the organization, including discussions about security incidents, data breaches, or vulnerabilities. This provides early warnings about potential compromises or emerging threats.

• Sentiment and Financials: By analyzing news articles, SEC filings, and social media, ThreatNG can assess the organization's financial stability, legal standing, and reputation. These factors can indirectly impact an organization's security posture.

2. Objective Measurement:

• Multi-faceted Scoring: ThreatNG generates security ratings that consider a wide range of factors, including web application security, subdomain security, BEC & phishing susceptibility, brand damage susceptibility, data leak susceptibility, cyber risk exposure, ESG exposure, supply chain & third-party exposure, and breach & ransomware susceptibility. This multi-faceted approach provides a more holistic and objective assessment of an organization's security posture.

• Continuous Monitoring: ThreatNG continuously monitors the organization's attack surface for changes and new threats, ensuring that the security rating remains up-to-date and reflects the current security status.

3. Easy-to-Understand Score:

• Security Ratings: ThreatNG presents security ratings in an easy-to-understand format, likely using numerical or letter grades similar to credit scores. This makes it simple for stakeholders to grasp the organization's overall risk level.

• Reporting: ThreatNG generates various reports, including executive and prioritized risk reports, that clearly and concisely present security ratings and related information clearly and concisely. This facilitates communication and understanding of security posture among different stakeholders.

4. Key Use Cases:

• Internal Risk Management: Organizations can use ThreatNG's security ratings to identify weaknesses in their security posture, prioritize remediation efforts, and track improvements over time.

• Third-Party Risk Management: ThreatNG can assess the security risk of vendors and business partners, enabling informed decisions about who to work with and how to manage third-party risk.

• Cyber Insurance: ThreatNG's security ratings can be used to demonstrate cybersecurity posture to insurance providers, potentially helping organizations obtain better coverage and premiums.

• Mergers and Acquisitions: ThreatNG can help assess the security risk of potential acquisitions, providing valuable information for due diligence and valuation.

Complementary Solutions and Examples:

• Integration with GRC Platforms: ThreatNG can integrate with governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) platforms to provide a more comprehensive view of an organization's risk profile.

• Benchmarking: ThreatNG's security ratings can be used to benchmark an organization's security posture against industry peers or competitors.

Examples:

• Board Reporting: ThreatNG's executive reports can communicate the organization's security posture to the board of directors, providing them with the information they need to make informed decisions about cybersecurity investments and risk management strategies.

• Vendor Selection: ThreatNG can be used to compare the security ratings of different vendors, helping organizations select vendors with strong security practices and reduce third-party cyber risk.

By combining extensive data collection, multi-faceted scoring, continuous monitoring, and easy-to-understand reporting, ThreatNG provides a robust security rating system that empowers organizations to understand, manage, and improve their cybersecurity posture.