Attack surface management (ASM) is the process of identifying, analyzing, prioritizing, remediating, and monitoring all potential entry points and vulnerabilities that threat actors can exploit in your organization’s systems, data, and infrastructure.
Historically, ASM has focused on the external attack surface, that is, internet-facing assets like web applications, open ports, cloud services, and “shadow IT” that adversaries can see from the outside. However, modern attack surface management is a continuous process that also extends to internal assets.
You can think of ASM as a foundational component of exposure management. Exposure management builds upon ASM by adding critical context, prioritization, and validation to identified security weaknesses, understanding which vulnerabilities pose the greatest business risk, and whether they are actually exploitable in your unique environment.
Attack Surface Management Defined
Attack surface management is a cybersecurity discipline concerned with identifying all the external and internal entry points into an organization’s IT infrastructure and understanding how attackers can exploit them.
Applications, hardware interfaces, APIs, and cloud resources are all potential entry points. ASM’s goal is to evaluate them continuously for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations and confirm that you have properly secured them before cybercriminals get the chance to exploit them.
ASM provides a dynamic and proactive approach that updates as your attack surface evolves. It gives businesses a clear, all-encompassing picture of their security posture, helping them stay ahead of past, current, and emerging threats.
How Does Attack Surface Management Work?
ASM generally consists of several elements:
- Discovery and Mapping: Knowing all of your assets, both on-premises and in the cloud, is the prerequisite of successful attack surface management. “All assets” means apps and devices but also software versions, open ports, and third-party services. Regular scanning your entire attack surface is one way to gain insight into both the easily observable and hidden assets you might have overlooked.
- Assessment: The mapping of the attack surface is followed by evaluating the weaknesses that attackers could exploit. It’s worth noting that scanning tools can automate the identification of common risks, such as unpatched software, open ports, weak configurations, and unsecured communications.
- Prioritization: Which of the identified security weaknesses are the most critical? That’s the question ASM helps you answer in this phase, and it entails documenting the severity of potential exploits. High-risk vulnerabilities that could result in disastrous data breaches or system outages are prioritized for immediate action.
- Continuous Monitoring: ASM is a process that requires ongoing monitoring. As organizations expand their digital footprint or make changes to their existing systems, new security problems emerge. ASM makes sure that no new threat vectors go unnoticed.
- Remediation and Mitigation: The identified and prioritized weaknesses require prompt action. That may include both patching and mitigation, such as improving access control or removing unnecessary services. Addressing the most critical threats first is, without a doubt, the imperative. However, you must continue working on reducing the overall attack surface by hardening your entire infrastructure.
- Reporting and Insights: Attack surface management tools typically generate reports that provide information on the security gaps in your environment, as well as the actions taken to address them. They allow IT teams to track progress in reducing the attack surface over time and can be helpful in meeting compliance requirements.
ASM vs. Other Security Approaches
Attack surface management shares confusingly large similarities with exposure management and vulnerability management. How, then, does it differ from each of the two?
The answer is predominantly in its emphasis and scope:
- Attack Surface Management vs. Exposure Management: Exposure management takes a broader, more outcome-driven approach than ASM. While ASM puts a heavy emphasis on discovering, mapping, and monitoring the attack surface to pinpoint entry points for attackers, exposure management builds upon this by validating the exploitability of weaknesses found and prioritizing them based on context and actual business impact.
For that purpose, exposure management includes offensive security—simulating an attacker’s actions in your environment—which is not the case with attack surface management.
- Attack Surface Management vs. Vulnerability Management: Vulnerability management focuses on identifying and fixing known vulnerabilities, revolving around patching as a primary remediation means. ASM, however, entails a broader threat view, including exposures different from CVE vulnerabilities.
Examples of Attack Surface Management in Use
Attack surface management can play an important role in protecting an organization’s network from current threats. Two examples include:
- Cloud Security: Say an organization wants to continuously monitor its cloud infrastructure and make sure that all endpoints, storage, and virtual machines are secure. ASM tools can help directly with this. They are capable of detecting unauthorized changes or misconfigurations in the cloud environment and alert security teams to take action before a cyberattack turns into a full-blown security incident.
- Third-Party Risk Management: ASM helps organizations track third-party services or APIs that interact with their systems. By understanding how external vendors access critical systems, companies can prevent risks stemming from compromised third-party connections.
Strengthening Security with Ongoing ASM Efforts
Attack surface management is not a one-time initiative but a constant proactive effort for organizations to reduce their attack surface. It helps with security prevention, allowing businesses to strengthen their security posture.
A well-executed ASM strategy is highly important for staying ahead of novel cyber threats and protecting sensitive data in a rapidly changing digital landscape.