Sensitive Information Exposure
In cybersecurity, Sensitive Information Exposure refers to the unintentional or malicious disclosure of confidential data that could harm an organization or its stakeholders. This sensitive information can include:
Credentials: Passwords, API keys, SSH keys, and other authentication details.
Financial information: Credit card numbers, bank account details, and financial reports.
Personal data: Names, addresses, social security numbers, and health records.
Intellectual property: Trade secrets, source code, and internal documentation.
Internal communications: Emails, memos, and chat logs.
System configurations: Network diagrams, server configurations, and security settings.
Importance of Awareness from an EASM and Digital Risk Perspective
Understanding the organization's and its parties' level of sensitive information exposure is crucial for effective external attack surface management (EASM) and digital risk mitigation. Here's why:
Identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities: Exposed sensitive information can create vulnerabilities attackers can exploit. Organizations can prioritize and address the most critical risks by understanding the extent of exposure.
Preventing data breaches: Sensitive information exposure can lead to data breaches, resulting in financial losses, reputational damage, and legal liabilities.
Protecting intellectual property: Exposed intellectual property can be stolen by competitors, resulting in a loss of competitive advantage.
Maintaining compliance: Many regulations, such as GDPR and HIPAA, require organizations to protect sensitive data. Failure to do so can result in hefty fines and penalties.
Managing third-party risk: Organizations must be aware of their partners' and contractors' sensitive information exposure to prevent supply chain attacks and other risks.
By actively monitoring and managing sensitive information exposure, organizations can reduce their attack surface, protect their valuable assets, and maintain the trust of their stakeholders.
ThreatNG effectively helps organizations manage and mitigate sensitive information exposure across their external attack surface through the following capabilities:
1. External Discovery: ThreatNG automatically discovers the organization's digital presence across many external sources, including code repositories, online forums, social media, etc. This unauthenticated discovery process requires no internal access or agents and helps identify potential areas where sensitive information might be exposed.
2. External Assessment: ThreatNG assesses the identified exposures to determine the risk they pose.
Data Leak Susceptibility: ThreatNG combines code secret exposure analysis findings with a dark web presence, domain intelligence, and financial disclosures to provide a comprehensive data leak susceptibility rating.
ThreatNG leverages multiple assessment ratings to address sensitive information exposure risk:
Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: Analyzes web applications for potential hijacking vulnerabilities that could expose sensitive data.
Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility: Identifies vulnerable subdomains that attackers could take over to host malicious content or steal sensitive data.
BEC & Phishing Susceptibility: Assesses the likelihood of Business Email Compromise (BEC) and phishing attacks, which often exploit exposed sensitive information.
Brand Damage Susceptibility: Evaluate the potential for brand damage due to exposed sensitive information or negative publicity.
Cyber Risk Exposure: Considers factors like exposed ports, vulnerabilities, and code secrets to determine the overall cyber risk exposure, which includes the risk of sensitive information exposure.
Cloud and SaaS Exposure: Evaluate the security of cloud services and SaaS applications, which can often hold sensitive data.
3. Continuous Monitoring: ThreatNG monitors the organization's external attack surface for changes or new exposures. This ensures that any new instances of sensitive information exposure are quickly identified and addressed.
4. Investigation Modules: ThreatNG offers various investigation modules to delve deeper into identified exposures.
Online Sharing Exposure Module: Provides detailed information about the organization's presence on online platforms, including specific instances of sensitive information exposure.
Sensitive Code Exposure Module: Analyzes exposed code and text for various types of sensitive information, clearly separating the potential risks.
Domain Intelligence, IP Intelligence, and Certificate Intelligence Modules: Gather additional context about the exposures, such as associated domains, IP addresses, and certificates. This information helps identify the source of the exposure and assess the potential impact.
5. Reporting: ThreatNG provides detailed reports on the organization's security posture, including information relevant to sensitive information exposure. These reports help organizations understand their risks and prioritize remediation efforts.
6. Intelligence Repositories: ThreatNG leverages its intelligence repositories, including dark web data, compromised credentials, and known vulnerabilities, to enrich the analysis of identified exposures. This helps identify high-risk exposures that require immediate attention.
7. Working with Complementary Solutions: ThreatNG integrates with other security tools, such as SIEM systems and vulnerability scanners, to provide a more comprehensive view of the organization's security posture. This allows organizations to leverage ThreatNG's findings to improve their security program.
By effectively using these capabilities, organizations can proactively identify, assess, and mitigate sensitive information exposure across their external attack surface, reducing their risk of data breaches, reputational damage, and other security incidents.
