In cybersecurity, a validated exposure is a security weakness that has been confirmed as exploitable in your specific environment. It's not just a theoretical vulnerability reported by a scanner; it's a proven risk that attackers can actively use to compromise your systems.

Here's why it matters:

• Not all vulnerabilities are created equal: You might have hundreds of vulnerabilities reported by your security tools, but many might be false positives, or they might be mitigated by existing security controls.

• Context is key: A vulnerability in a test environment might not be an issue in production, and a vulnerability that's difficult to exploit might not be a high priority.

• Focus on real threats: Validated exposures help you focus your limited resources on the threats that pose the most significant risk to your organization.

How are exposures validated?

Exposure validation typically involves using security testing techniques to simulate real-world attacks against your systems. This can include:

• Penetration testing: Ethical hackers attempt to exploit vulnerabilities to demonstrate their impact.

• Breach and attack simulation (BAS): Automated tools simulate various attack scenarios to identify weaknesses in your defenses.

• Attack path analysis: Tools analyze potential attack paths to identify the most likely routes attackers would take to exploit vulnerabilities.

Benefits of focusing on validated exposures:

• Reduced risk: By prioritizing the remediation of validated exposures, you first address the most critical threats.

• Improved efficiency: You avoid wasting time and resources on vulnerabilities that don't pose a real threat.

• Better decision-making: You have more accurate information to make informed decisions about security investments.

• Increased confidence: You gain confidence that your security controls effectively mitigate real-world threats.

Example:

Imagine a vulnerability scanner reports a critical SQL injection vulnerability in a web application. Through exposure validation (e.g., penetration testing), you discover that the vulnerability is protected by a web application firewall (WAF). This means the vulnerability, while technically present, is not currently exploitable. This would be considered a "non-validated" exposure.

On the other hand, if the penetration test successfully exploits the vulnerability, bypassing the WAF, then it becomes a validated exposure requiring immediate attention.

Validated exposures provide a more accurate and actionable view of your security posture, allowing you to prioritize your efforts and focus on the threats that matter most.

ThreatNG can play a valuable role in helping organizations identify and manage validated exposures. Here's how:

1. Identifying Potential Exposures:

• Comprehensive discovery: ThreatNG's extensive investigation modules help uncover many potential exposures across your external attack surface. This includes:

• Domain Intelligence: Identifying subdomain vulnerabilities, exposed APIs, and misconfigured DNS records.

• Sensitive Code Exposure: Detecting leaked credentials, API keys, and security configurations in public code repositories.

• Cloud and SaaS Exposure: Uncovering misconfigured cloud storage buckets, unauthorized access to cloud services, and vulnerable SaaS implementations.

• Social Media: Identifying fake accounts, negative sentiment, and potential phishing attempts targeting your brand.

• Prioritization based on risk: ThreatNG assesses the severity and potential impact of identified exposures, allowing you to focus on those that pose the most significant risk.

2. Facilitating Exposure Validation:

• Integration with vulnerability scanners: ThreatNG can integrate with vulnerability scanners to correlate its findings with vulnerability scan results, providing a more complete picture of potential exposures.

• Collaboration with penetration testers: ThreatNG's findings can guide penetration testing efforts, focusing on the most critical areas and potential attack vectors.

• Supporting breach and attack simulation: ThreatNG's data can be used to configure and run breach and attack simulations, testing the effectiveness of your security controls against specific attack scenarios.

3. Managing Validated Exposures:

• Prioritized reporting: ThreatNG can generate reports highlighting validated exposures, allowing you to prioritize remediation efforts based on the level of risk.

• Tracking remediation progress: ThreatNG allows you to track the status of remediation efforts for validated exposures, ensuring they are addressed promptly.

• Continuous monitoring: ThreatNG monitors your attack surface for new vulnerabilities and changes in the threat landscape, helping you identify new potential exposures that need validation.

Examples with Investigation Modules:

• Domain Intelligence: If ThreatNG identifies a subdomain takeover vulnerability, a penetration tester can attempt to exploit it to confirm whether it's a validated exposure.

• Sensitive Code Exposure: If ThreatNG discovers leaked API keys in a code repository, a breach and attack simulation can be run to test whether those keys can be used to access sensitive data.

• Cloud and SaaS Exposure: If ThreatNG finds a misconfigured cloud storage bucket, a penetration tester can attempt to access the data to validate the exposure.

Working with Complementary Solutions:

• Penetration Testing Tools: ThreatNG's findings can be used as input for penetration testing tools, helping to focus testing efforts on the most critical areas.

• Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) Platforms: ThreatNG can integrate with BAS platforms to simulate attacks against identified exposures and validate their exploitability.

• Vulnerability Management Solutions: ThreatNG can complement vulnerability management solutions by providing context and prioritization for identified vulnerabilities.

By combining comprehensive discovery, risk assessment, and collaboration features, ThreatNG helps organizations move beyond simply identifying potential vulnerabilities to focusing on validating and managing the exposures that pose the most significant risk. This enables a more proactive and practical approach to cybersecurity, ensuring that resources are used efficiently to mitigate the most critical threats.