As cyberattacks continue to rise, organizations must be more vigilant in protecting their ever-changing networks and systems from external threats. Each component and system exposed to the web magnifies your company's attack surface, increasing the chances of being attacked by external cyber threats. Narrowing down the attack surface is a critical security practice that involves reducing the number of potential vulnerabilities and entry points that attackers can exploit. By reducing the attack surface, organizations can make it more difficult for attackers to gain access to their networks and systems and limit the potential damage an attacker can cause if they breach the organization's defenses.
Minimizing the attack surface with External Attack Surface Management (eASM) platforms
External Attack Surface Management platforms provide organizations and various security operations teams with the ability to perform reconnaissance and monitoring on internal and external assets and detect anomalies while protecting sensitive information. eASM platforms can:
- Reduce the overall risk of your organization being targeted by attackers: By reducing the number of potential vulnerabilities and entry points, organizations can make it more difficult for attackers to find a way into their systems.
- Discover and map hundreds of your external assets, leaked information, misconfiguration, and more.
- Continuously monitor critical assets 24/7/365.
With continuous monitoring of the external attack surface, security teams can identify attack vectors more accurately and take appropriate measures to contain and mitigate the threats. HUB Security's NEO, for example, is constantly updated by security and bug bounty experts, which is crucial for countering new threats. Understanding cybersecurity as an ongoing effort to improve and adapt to evolving threats is crucial. It is for this reason that eASM should be an integral component of an organization's cybersecurity routine, along with professional security services like internal penetration testing, incident response drills, and security awareness training, which, together, can provide a comprehensive cyber risk mitigation strategy.