As organisations grow and expand, so does their attack surface. The steady increase in the adoption of cloud technologies, interconnected applications, and even smart devices has led to modern organisations constantly increasing their digital footprints. However, with this boost in capability comes more vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit.

A recent report from Randori, an IBM company, discovered that two out of three companies claimed that their external attack surface substantially increased in the last year. The same report also noted that these companies face greater difficulty keeping up with their rapidly growing attack surface. Below, we briefly cover the steps involved in an attack surface analysis and the best practices for success.

What is attack surface analysis?

Attack surface analysis mitigates threats by identifying and assessing the potential risks and vulnerabilities of an organisation’s software systems and networks. It achieves this by looking at the many different interfaces, components, and communication paths that hackers could use to access a system. Being thorough with this process ensures no stone is left unturned when it comes to the system or network’s security posture.

With that said, attack surface analysis mainly consists of two steps:

1. Mapping out attack surfaces

Mapping an attack surface entails examining the various interaction points of an application and network, such as user input forms and databases, and identifying attack vectors or the paths that hackers can use to introduce viruses and malware into the system. This process can be divided into several categories: applications, networks, and databases.

Once all vulnerabilities are identified in each category, the next step is to check whether the components are accessible externally, such as through the Internet. Although many of your company’s components may not be externally facing, there is a chance they can still be accessed from external sources should hackers breach access into your organisation.

2. Ranking the severity of attacks and breaches

Rating the severity of threats comes after identifying the attack surface of a given component. These rankings are based on how likely they may get exploited and the severity of the consequences. Data sensitivity is one of the key factors that dictate these rankings as highly sensitive data like personally identifiable information (PII), credit card numbers, and health information would be disastrous if released to the public.

When conducting severity assessments, it is important to also take into account the access controls put in place to safeguard systems against malware and viruses. The stronger their access controls are, the lower their risk of getting breached. Naturally, externally-facing systems are the most vulnerable, so they must be prioritised during the analysis.

Best practices for conducting attack surface analysis

● Conduct threat modelling

Since threat modelling determines the priority of threats by looking at several factors, such as the likelihood of the attack occurring and potential loss or consequences should it succeed, it is a great place to start analysing and ranking the severity of the attacks. This process looks at the organisation’s assets from the attacker’s perspective and how likely they are to target a specific attack point to determine potential attack vectors and develop ways to respond accordingly.

Threat modelling highlights the following key factors that can help determine which vulnerabilities need to be prioritised first:

1. Most significant vulnerabilities

2. Most likely threats

3. Mitigation strategies and possibilities

Looking at these factors ensures organisations can balance how they properly respond and mitigate the threats posed by potential attack vectors.

In short, threat modelling clarifies whether businesses are better off addressing fast and easy-to-solve issues first or directing their attention towards the higher-risk threats that may take longer to address.

● Invest in vulnerability scanning

Vulnerability scanning is an automated and high-level test that searches for potential security flaws and vulnerabilities in networks and system installations as well as the software running on them. The scans are compared against databases of known vulnerabilities to uncover security gaps that need patching or fixing. They produce a list of confirmed or potential vulnerabilities, including their impact and remediation steps.

● Implement continuous attack surface discovery

Since it is common for an organisation’s systems to constantly change due to new components continuously being added, it makes sense to make the attack surface discovery a continuous process for improved system security and to stay ahead of vulnerabilities and potential threats. Here are a few tips for implementing this:

1. Regular vulnerability assessments

Performing vulnerability assessments regularly on systems, applications, and everything else in between ensures early detection and remediation of potential vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

2. Leverage penetration testing

By working with experts specialising in penetration testing services, organisations can put their defences to the test with simulated real-world attacks that help identify the remaining gaps in their cybersecurity posture.

3. Provide employee training

Employees trained on the latest cybersecurity best practices bolster the weakest link in the company’s security chain and significantly reduce the odds of cybersecurity breaches due to human error.

Conclusion

The continued expansion of cloud implementation and digitalisation comes at the cost of securing an ever-growing attack surface. As such, organisations must spare no effort in performing attack surface analysis and, ultimately, attack surface management to keep threat actors at bay and prevent them from disrupting operations or worse.

To keep your cybersecurity posture robust and up to date against the latest threats, consider engaging Singapore cybersecurity services today. At GROUP8, we provide a comprehensive list of industry-leading cybersecurity solutions, including penetration testing services and vulnerability assessment in Singapore, that can be tailored to your organisation’s needs today and in the future. For more details about our services, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at any time.