Over the past five years, the attack surface of the average organization has expanded to make way for rapid innovation and digital transformation. This has created more potentially exploitable endpoints and, in turn, has provided security teams with the extra task of securing both external-facing assets and internal facing assets properly – and quickly.
A vulnerable attack surface, littered with unknown (and potentially vulnerable) assets, can pose a significant risk to an organization’s overall security posture. Organizations must prioritize the mapping and monitoring of its attack surface to understand where they’re vulnerable. However, this is not enough. They must proactively go one step further and test their attack surface regularly, if not continuously. But first, organizations must understand the shifting attack surface and one critically overlooked part of it: application attack surfaces.
Why Are Attack Surfaces Expanding?
The pandemic signalled a significant shift in the working habits of many Americans, with many adopting a hybrid or remote working style. The rise of remote work exponentially increased the number of devices and networks accessing corporate data. Compounded by the general proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, many of which are insecure by design, and shadow IT, home working has made it harder for IT and security teams to see the full scope of the attack surface.
On top of this, digital transformation has seen many organizations embracing the latest tech, with many adopting cloud computing and mobile technologies. Increasingly, networks and systems are becoming more interconnected too. While the move to cloud-based environments has offered organizations many benefits, including reduced cost and flexibility, if these environments are not properly secured, they can pose a significant risk for organizations.
On top of this, more generally, the modern IT infrastructure of an organization is often complex, encompassing a mix of cloud services, on-prem systems and third-party applications. Similarly, the growing reliance of web applications and APIs has created more avenues for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities. This is one area that typically gets neglected in the attack surface security conversation.
So, what can organizations do to control threats within applications?
Discovery and Monitoring: Why Continuous Scanning is ImportantÂ
To start with, security teams need to understand the full scope of their organization’s attack surface, including the application attack surface. The application attack surface is a subset of the overall attack surface, specifically focusing on vulnerabilities within software applications. This includes web applications, mobile apps, desktop applications and APIs. The application attack surface considers potential entry points within the application’s code, design and interaction with other systems.
It’s important that organizations have a clear view of their application attack surface, including the discovery and inventory of all known and unknown internet-facing applications. When it comes to application security, organizations must monitor API endpoints that may be vulnerable, find any input fields that could be used for injection attacks, and spot any software bugs that could be exploited.
However, this requires consistency in monitoring the application (and broader) attack surface for new vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cybercriminals. Organizations must make an inventory of all applications, both known and unknown in the attack surface. Then, security teams can gain control and put measures in place to mitigate risk. However, this alone is not enough.
Going Beyond: Testing the Application Attack SurfaceÂ
It is not enough to simply map the attack surface. A robust security strategy relies on proactivity, which, in this case, it means testing the attack surface regularly. One way that organizations can do this is by employing pen-testing-as-a-service (PTaaS) assessments, which continuously monitor and test the attack surface. In an age is where the attack surface and vulnerabilities facing orgs rapidly evolve. This provides organizations with the ability to quickly identify and address vulnerabilities promptly, thus reducing the window of opportunity for cybercriminals to exploit. This is especially critical in applications.
Similarly, PTaaS provides time-strapped security teams with a blend of human expertise and automated scanning. This means that teams get real-time insight and analysis of vulnerabilities from specialized security experts. These reports can be used for remediation, based on detailed risk categorizations. When security spend is already hard to justify to the board, it’s essential that organizations get the most of their security tools, which is why prioritizing risk is so important.
Prioritizing Risk: Essential As Application Attack Surface ExpandsÂ
Many organizations have limited resources and security teams may find themselves tight on budget, people and time when it comes to vulnerability discovery and remediation, especially in more specialized areas like applications. However, it’s important that vulnerabilities are assessed and addressed quickly. Risk prioritization allows security teams to focus time and effort on the most critical threats first. Automating the discovery and prioritization of threats, using tools like PTaaS, are easy ways to save time and maximize security efforts.
Strengthening the Application Attack SurfaceÂ
In general, attack surface security is not a one-time exercise. Vulnerabilities emerge all the time and organizations need oversight into if and how they may be affected. This is especially important when it comes to securing applications.
Application attack surface security can be strengthened by constant monitoring using tools to help prioritize risk and reduce false positives loss of productivity. By outsourcing and automating the management of the application attack surface, security teams can focus on remediating the most potentially impactful security threats facing an organization, whilst, in many cases, achieving and maintaining compliance.
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Victor Acin is Director of Product Management at Outpost24, a leading provider of cyber risk management and threat intelligence solutions. Outpost24 offers industry-leading Attack Surface Management solutions that keep security teams one step ahead of emerging threats. They help thousands of organizations around the world to identify, protect, and monitor digital risks before they can be exploited.
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