What Is Attack Surface Management?

Attack surface management (ASM) is a cybersecurity practice focused on identifying and managing digital and physical entry points vulnerable to exploitation. It aims to provide a view of all possible attack vectors in an organization's IT environment. By continuously monitoring these surfaces, ASM efforts help reduce the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches.

ASM involves cataloging assets, assessing vulnerabilities, and prioritizing risks based on potential impact. This dynamic process ensures that security measures evolve alongside changes in the organization's infrastructure. By proactively identifying threats, ASM helps maintain a security posture, aligning with the organization's risk management strategies.

Types of Attack Surfaces


Digital Assets (Known, Unknown, Rogue)

Digital assets are components that form an organization's IT ecosystem, including hardware, software, and data:

  • Known assets are those officially cataloged and managed by IT teams, often incorporated into regular security monitoring routines.

  • Unknown assets, which are often overlooked, pose significant risks. They are parts of the network not inventoried due to oversight or configuration errors.

  • Rogue assets are unauthorized or malicious entries introduced deliberately or inadvertently, posing considerable risk since they bypass standard security checks. Proper discovery tools and processes are critical in identifying these digital assets, ensuring they are monitored, secured, and managed effectively.

Physical Assets

Physical assets in cybersecurity refer to tangible components like servers, workstations, and network hardware. These are vital to an organization’s operations and must be safeguarded against unauthorized access. Ensuring physical assets are properly protected involves implementing security protocols like access controls, surveillance systems, and environmental monitoring.

Physical security extends to data centers and remote office locations. Protecting these environments from physical breach is essential, as unauthorized access can lead to data theft or disruption of services. By integrating physical security with digital measures, organizations can maintain security posture against potential threats.

Human Factors

Human factors involve the behaviors and actions of employees that can affect an organization's security posture. Human errors, such as misconfigurations or inadvertently sharing sensitive information, create vulnerability points within an attack surface. Ensuring employees understand their role in maintaining security is vital to minimizing such risks.

Training and awareness programs can substantially mitigate risks posed by human factors. Regular training sessions educate employees on security best practices, phishing recognition, and response protocols. By fostering a culture of security awareness, organizations can significantly reduce security incidents stemming from human error.

Key Threat Actors

Let’s review who are the people or groups who might be attempting to compromise your organization’s security.

Cybercriminals and Cybercrime Groups

Cybercriminals are individuals or groups that exploit vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access for financial gain. They often deploy tactics like phishing, ransomware, and data theft to disrupt operations and extort organizations. Cybercrime groups are illegal organizations that bring together sophisticated hackers, often with advanced technology and sophisticated attack techniques.

Nation-State Actors

Nation-state actors are government-affiliated groups that target other nations or corporations for espionage, sabotage, or influence. They often possess significant resources, enabling them to conduct sophisticated and prolonged cyberattacks. These actors can exploit vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, posing national security threats.

Insider Threats

Insider threats originate from employees or associates with access to an organization's sensitive information. These individuals may act maliciously or negligently, causing data breaches or system disruptions. Insider threats are challenging to detect due to the inherent trust and access insiders possess.

Hacktivists

Hacktivists are individuals or groups that conduct cyberattacks driven by ideological or political motives rather than personal gain. These actors typically target high-profile organizations, leveraging campaigns to raise awareness or disrupt operations. Methods range from website defacements to data leaks.


Related content: Read our guide to continuous penetration testing


Tips from the Sprocket Experts:

From our experience, here are tips that can help you better improve your Attack Surface Management (ASM) strategy:

  1. Leverage breach and attack simulation (BAS) tools: Use BAS tools to continuously validate your defenses by simulating attacks on your environment. This helps expose blind spots in your attack surface that traditional vulnerability scans may miss, especially in complex infrastructures like cloud environments.

  2. Consider attack surface reduction (ASR) techniques: ASR techniques, such as disabling unnecessary services or hardening configuration baselines, can minimize attack vectors before vulnerabilities even need to be patched. These proactive measures reduce the need for constant remediation and create a smaller footprint for attackers.

  3. Focus on the security of DevOps pipelines: Developers often bypass traditional IT controls for speed, introducing untracked cloud instances or containers. Continuously monitor your CI/CD pipelines, ensuring that new code deployments and automated infrastructure changes are secured and don’t expand the attack surface unintentionally.

  4. Map out supply chain dependencies: Go beyond simple third-party risk management by creating a detailed map of your supply chain’s critical software and service dependencies. This helps you predict how vulnerabilities in those dependencies could expand your attack surface, especially in widely used components like open-source libraries.

  5. Automate shadow IT discovery: Beyond traditional asset discovery tools, use network flow analysis to detect shadow IT assets based on traffic patterns. Rogue assets often communicate over non-standard ports or protocols and can be flagged through anomaly detection in network traffic.


Impact of Digital Transformation on Attack Surfaces

Another critical element of attack surface management is the evolution of attack surfaces in modern organizations, due to the use of technology like cloud computing, the IoT, and remote work platforms.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing introduces new dimensions to attack surfaces through its dynamic, scalable infrastructure. It allows rapid deployment and scalable resources but also brings the challenge of securing data across distributed environments. Ensuring security in cloud systems requires understanding shared responsibility models between providers and clients.

Organizations leveraging cloud solutions must implement strong identity and access management controls. Continuous monitoring of data transfers and system configurations is essential to prevent unauthorized access. Employing encryption and regular audits helps maintain control and trust over cloud-stored data, reducing the risk posed by expanded attack surfaces.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) significantly expands the attack surface by connecting a multitude of devices to networks. Each device presents a potential entry point for unauthorized access, necessitating strict management and security protocols. IoT devices often lack security features, contributing to their vulnerability.

Organizations need to integrate IoT security through strong authentication measures and continuous device monitoring. Ensuring that devices receive timely updates and patches prevents exploitation of known vulnerabilities. By embedding security practices into IoT deployment, organizations mitigate risks associated with an expanding network of connected devices.

Remote Workforce

A remote workforce shifts the perimeter of organizational security beyond traditional borders, intensifying the challenge of maintaining a secure environment. Employees accessing corporate networks from various locations introduce potential vulnerabilities, especially through unsecured home networks or personal devices.

To address this, organizations should implement virtual private networks (VPNs) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to secure access. Educating employees on best security practices while working remotely minimizes risky behaviors. Strengthening endpoint security for remote work devices helps maintain data integrity and secure network access globally.

Third-Party Integrations

Third-party integrations, which have become more prevalent with the advent of the API economy, introduce additional risks by expanding dependency networks and potential entry points. While partnerships and integrations are crucial for business efficiency, they require due diligence to ensure security. Mismanagement can lead to vulnerabilities being exploited through less secure third-party systems.

Organizations must conduct rigorous vetting of third-party vendors, assessing their security policies and compliance standards. Continuous monitoring of integrated systems and regular audits ensures prompt identification and remediation of vulnerabilities. Establishing clear agreements relating to data protection fosters secure third-party collaborations.

Core Functions of Attack Surface Management

Here are the primary tasks involved in attack surface management:

Asset Discovery

Asset discovery is the process of identifying all hardware, software, and data within an organization. This function is crucial for maintaining awareness of both known and unknown assets. It involves automated scanning tools and manual audits to ensure an inventory.

Organizations can enhance asset discovery through continuous mapping and updating of inventory records. Regular assessments highlight any discrepancies or new assets introduced into the environment. Maintaining a real-time asset inventory is essential for managing vulnerabilities and ensuring security teams have accurate data for decision-making.

Vulnerability Analysis

Vulnerability analysis identifies and evaluates security weaknesses in systems, software, and networks. This process helps organizations understand their exposure to threats, providing insight into potential exploitation paths. Tools like vulnerability scanners and penetration testing are commonly used to assess these risks.

To achieve effective vulnerability analysis, organizations should prioritize regular testing and incorporate automated tools for real-time assessments. Integration with asset management systems allows for quick identification and remediation of gaps.

Risk Prioritization

Risk prioritization involves assessing identified vulnerabilities to determine their potential impact on the organization. By analyzing exploitability and potential damage, security teams can allocate resources efficiently, focusing on issues that pose the highest threat. This strategic approach ensures critical risks receive immediate attention.

Organizations can implement risk prioritization through frameworks that categorize threats based on their severity and likelihood. By integrating threat intelligence, teams can understand current trends and adjust their priorities accordingly.

Remediation Strategies

Remediation strategies are actions taken to mitigate or eliminate identified vulnerabilities within an organization’s attack surface. Effective remediation involves patching software, reconfiguring systems, or adjusting security policies. Establishing clear and timely remediation protocols is crucial for minimizing exposure to threats.

Organizations should adopt a structured incident response plan that identifies responsibilities and timelines for addressing vulnerabilities. Automation tools can streamline remediation processes, ensuring rapid deployment of fixes.

Attack Surface Management vs. Attack Surface Analysis

While attack surface management (ASM) and attack surface analysis (ASA) are closely related, they serve distinct functions within an organization's cybersecurity framework.

Attack surface management is an ongoing, dynamic process that focuses on the continuous identification, monitoring, and mitigation of potential vulnerabilities. ASM ensures that an organization’s security posture adapts to changes in infrastructure, assets, and emerging threats. Its goal is to maintain a holistic and real-time view of all possible attack vectors to proactively minimize risks. This involves asset discovery, vulnerability analysis, and remediation efforts over time.

Attack surface analysis is a point-in-time evaluation that involves identifying and mapping all potential entry points where an attacker might gain unauthorized access to a system. It provides a snapshot of the attack surface at a specific moment, helping security teams understand the extent of exposure at that time. It often serves as a foundational assessment that informs ASM activities, offering insights into what assets and vulnerabilities exist within a network.

What Is External Attack Surface Management?

External attack surface management (EASM) is the process of identifying, monitoring, and mitigating risks associated with an organization's externally facing assets. These assets, such as public websites, cloud services, and exposed APIs, form the part of the attack surface accessible from outside the organization's internal network. EASM focuses specifically on threats and vulnerabilities visible to attackers, making it a critical component of a cybersecurity posture.

EASM typically involves continuous scanning and assessment of external-facing digital assets, ensuring that vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and shadow IT are promptly identified and addressed. This practice helps organizations stay ahead of potential threats by providing real-time insights into their exposure to the public internet. Additionally, EASM can detect unauthorized or unmonitored assets that might have been deployed without proper security oversight, a common issue in fast-paced environments with frequent changes.

Challenges in Managing Attack Surfaces

Here are some of the key challenges of managing an organization’s attack surface:

Rapidly Changing Environments

Rapidly changing IT environments, driven by technological advancements and business demands, exacerbate the challenge of managing attack surfaces. New applications, systems, and updates constantly reshape organizational landscapes, requiring agile security measures to maintain protection.

Organizations must adopt a proactive approach by employing automated monitoring systems that continuously assess and adapt to change. Implementing strong change management policies ensures security controls are updated alongside IT system alterations.

Shadow IT and Unknown Assets

Shadow IT refers to untracked and unmanaged IT resources within an organization, deployed by employees without oversight. These assets, while they might improve productivity, bypass standard security protocols, exposing the organization to potential threats. Addressing shadow IT is critical in maintaining an attack surface management strategy.

Organizations need policies that promote visibility and align employee usage of digital resources with security standards. Employing discovery tools can identify shadow IT components, integrating them into managed systems. Encouraging open communication about system needs and securely supporting employee-driven innovations is crucial in reducing risks associated with shadow IT.

Limited Resources and Skill Gaps

Limited resources and skill gaps can hamper effective management of attack surfaces. Organizations often struggle to allocate appropriate personnel and tools needed for monitoring and response strategies. Moreover, the growing sophistication of cyber threats demands specialized expertise, which is in short supply.

To address these challenges, organizations should invest in employee training and development programs, fostering a skilled internal workforce. Leveraging automated security tools can streamline processes and alleviate resource constraints. Partnering with external security experts can also fill critical skill gaps, ensuring well-rounded attack surface management.

Key Features of Attack Surface Management Tools

Attack Surface Management (ASM) tools play a critical role in helping organizations secure their IT environments by providing continuous visibility into potential vulnerabilities. These tools automate asset discovery, prioritize risks, and offer real-time monitoring to address threats proactively. Below are some of the key features that make ASM tools essential for maintaining a strong security posture.

  • Continuous asset discovery: ASM tools provide ongoing asset discovery capabilities, ensuring that all hardware, software, and cloud resources are identified in real-time. These tools automate the process of scanning internal and external networks, helping organizations maintain an up-to-date inventory of their digital assets, including those that may have been previously unknown or rogue.

  • Risk-based vulnerability prioritization: ASM tools analyze identified vulnerabilities and prioritize them based on potential impact and exploitability. This risk-based approach ensures that security teams focus on the most critical threats first, optimizing their efforts and resources.

  • Automated threat detection and alerts: Advanced ASM platforms integrate automated threat detection features that continuously monitor attack surfaces for signs of potential exploitation or malicious activity. These tools send real-time alerts when suspicious behavior or new vulnerabilities are detected, enabling security teams to respond swiftly.

  • Integration with existing security systems: ASM tools typically offer integration capabilities with other security platforms, such as Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, endpoint protection, and vulnerability scanners.

  • Customizable reporting and dashboards: Many ASM tools offer customizable reporting features that provide detailed insights into an organization’s attack surface. Security teams can generate reports tailored to specific stakeholders, from technical staff to executive leadership, ensuring that all parties have access to the relevant information.

Best Practices for Effective Attack Surface Management


1. Continuous Monitoring

Continuous monitoring involves real-time surveillance of networks and systems to identify and address anomalies swiftly. This ongoing process ensures that potential threats are detected early, reducing the window of opportunity for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities. Continuous monitoring enhances an organization’s ability to respond to evolving threats.

Organizations should employ automated tools to maintain uninterrupted monitoring and integrate threat intelligence feeds for broader situational awareness. Alerts and automated responses can significantly reduce incident response times. By embedding continuous monitoring into their cybersecurity strategy, organizations can proactively maintain a secure environment.

2. Employee Training and Awareness

Employee training and awareness are vital components of attack surface management, addressing human error vulnerabilities. Regular training sessions equip employees with the knowledge to identify threats like phishing and understand best security practices. Awareness programs foster a culture of security consciousness across an organization.

Organizations should implement ongoing training initiatives that are responsive to evolving threats and methodologies. Interactive and engaging education methods help reinforce key security concepts. By prioritizing employee training, organizations can significantly reduce risk stemming from unintended security lapses and vulnerabilities.

3. Cross-Team Collaboration

Cross-team collaboration involves linking different departments to enhance cybersecurity efforts, ensuring that all parts of an organization are aligned with security goals. Collaboration fosters comprehensive risk management by pooling diverse expertise in addressing attack surface vulnerabilities and responses.

Organizations should promote open communication and regular joint meetings between IT, security, operations, and other stakeholders. By facilitating knowledge sharing and collaborative problem-solving, organizations can implement cohesive security strategies. Effective collaboration ensures all organizational facets contribute to maintaining a secure attack surface.

4. Managing Third-Party Risk

Managing third-party risk involves identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities introduced by external vendors, service providers, and partners that integrate with an organization’s IT systems. Third-party systems, often outside the direct control of the organization, can introduce security gaps through misconfigurations, outdated software, or insufficient security policies. Since these systems are part of the extended attack surface, ensuring their security is critical.

Organizations should establish strict due diligence processes when selecting third-party vendors, including thorough assessments of their security protocols and regular audits of their systems. Contractual agreements should mandate security controls and compliance with relevant standards. Continuous monitoring of third-party integrations, along with clear incident response procedures, helps mitigate risks posed by external partners.

5. Implementing Security Frameworks

Implementing security frameworks provides structured guidelines for evaluating and managing attack surfaces. Frameworks standardize procedures, ensuring consistent security practices across an organization. They align security efforts with industry standards, enhancing the ability to address emerging threats methodically.

Organizations should select security frameworks that cater to their specific industry and risk profile. Aligning frameworks with organizational policies fosters uniformity in security operations. Regular reviews of the framework’s applicability ensure that security strategies evolve alongside emerging threats and technological advancements, enhancing the overall cybersecurity posture.