Why you need to prioritize protecting your external attack surface

Why you need to prioritize protecting your external attack surface

 

What is External Attack Surface Security?

“External attack surface security” is the protection of an organization’s digital assets from external threats, such as cyber attacks, malware, and phishing. These threats target entry points that are accessible from the internet, including web applications, email servers, and VPNs. The constantly evolving nature of the internet and the proliferation of new technologies make it challenging to protect against external threats. These entry points can be targeted by cybercriminals to gain access to sensitive data or disrupt operations.

 

According to the SANS Institute, the external attack surface is the primary target of cyber attacks, with over 80% of successful breaches occurring through the web. This highlights the importance of protecting against external threats, as a single successful attack can have significant consequences for an organization, including financial losses, reputational damage, and regulatory fines.

 

In addition to the financial and reputational risks, external attacks can also disrupt an organization’s operations, causing significant inconvenience and disruption for both the organization and its customers. This is particularly true for organizations that rely on the internet for their operations, such as e-commerce companies and service providers.

Enterprise challenges – Ransomware Attacks Example

Security misconfigurations are a common and serious problem that can lead to successful ransomware attacks. These misconfigurations can occur at different levels of a system, including the operating system, application, and network. They can also happen due to human error, such as forgetting to update software or using weak passwords. Hackers can exploit these misconfigurations to gain unauthorized access to a system and then deploy ransomware, which can cause significant damage and disrupt operations. It is important to regularly review and address security misconfigurations to reduce the risk of successful ransomware attacks.

 

The dynamic nature of modern IT environments, with thousands of legacy assets and new assets being added every month, can make it difficult for organizations to maintain visibility and control over their external attack surface. This can lead to critical vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and human errors that compromise external assets and make them vulnerable to ransomware attacks.

 

Many enterprises are also relying on legacy security solutions with limited capabilities. Security teams are often overwhelmed with maintaining and running these tools, and are limited by existing processes and frameworks. This can result in neglecting large segments of the attack surface, leaving them unmonitored and vulnerable to targeted attacks.

 

Furthermore, security teams today are frequently understaffed and overwhelmed by the amount of data they need to process, including logs, vulnerabilities, and alerts. This can lead to alert fatigue and a struggle to prioritize tasks such as fixing misconfigurations and patching.

 

Maximizing the Effectiveness of Your External Attack Surface Security with Ovalsec

 

Given the potential consequences of a successful external attack, it is essential for organizations to prioritize the security of their external attack surface. This includes implementing effective security measures and monitoring for potential threats, as well as having a response plan in place in case of a breach. Tools like Ovalsec can play a key role in helping organizations to secure their external attack surface and protect against targeted attacks.

 

Ovalsec is a next-generation external attack surface protection platform that helps organizations prevent targeted attacks in real-time. It provides continuous visibility and management of the dynamic external attack surface, as well as a unique exploit engine that identifies and helps remediate critical security issues. Ovalsec also includes an intelligent prioritization feature that flags compromised assets that pose a critical risk to the organization. This allows security and IT teams to prioritize the patching of critical security gaps, reducing the risk of a successful attack.

 

Using Ovalsec can save security teams time and money, and help them level the playing field against attackers. By focusing on critical misconfigurations and high-impact vulnerabilities targeted by real-world attackers, Ovalsec helps organizations reduce noise, prevent alert fatigue, and reduce risk and exposure time.

 

Ovalsec’s external attack surface protection platform is designed to automatically discover an organization’s entire extended IT infrastructure. This provides a comprehensive view of the organization’s security posture and complements their existing security stack by enhancing the capabilities of their security operations center (SOC) team.

 

One of the key benefits of using Ovalsec is its low percentage of false positives. This means that the platform is able to accurately identify and flag potential security threats, without generating unnecessary alerts. This helps to reduce the workload of the security team and allows them to focus on the most pressing security issues.

 

In addition to its continuous visibility and management capabilities, Ovalsec’s exploit engine executes attack playbooks that go beyond common CVEs to identify critical issues and help organizations to remediate them faster. This is particularly important in today’s fast-paced threat landscape, where attackers are constantly developing new tactics and techniques. By staying ahead of the curve, Ovalsec helps organizations to proactively protect against emerging threats.

 

In Summary 

Overall, Ovalsec is an effective tool for enhancing the security of an organization’s external attack surface. It provides continuous visibility and management of the attack surface, as well as a unique exploit engine that helps to identify and remediate critical issues. By prioritizing compromised assets and flagging critical risks, Ovalsec allows security and IT teams to prioritize the patching of security gaps and reduce the risk of a successful attack.