In the ever-changing world of cybersecurity, professionals are constantly challenged to protect their organizations from evolving cyber threats. One major obstacle they face is the presence of attack surface blind spots, which can be exploited by attackers and hinder an organization’s ability to stay ahead of potential threats. For businesses that may not have the resources or budget to maintain a full-time, in-house security operations center (SOC) or struggle to recruit and retain skilled staff, addressing these blind spots can be a daunting task. Here are three key tips to help eliminate attack surface blind spots and bolster your organization’s security posture.
The first tip is to expand visibility across your attack surface. One common reason for attack surface blind spots is a lack of visibility across an organization’s IT infrastructure. Modern IT environments are complex, including legacy systems, cloud services, mobile devices, third-party applications, and supply chain touchpoints. Without comprehensive visibility, organizations can easily overlook potential vulnerabilities that could pose significant risks. By regularly scanning and monitoring your IT environment using managed vulnerability services and managed detection and response (MDR) services, you can ensure that new assets are promptly discovered, even as new technologies or supply chain touchpoints are added. This comprehensive approach allows for the discovery and categorization of both known and unknown assets, applications, and workloads across various IT environments, enabling organizations to enrich their data with critical information such as asset identity, installed software, vulnerabilities, and more. By fortifying defenses through the integration of services like MDR with managed endpoint security (MES) and managed vulnerability services, organizations can validate security controls and identify exposures more effectively. Leveraging continuous monitoring through managed security services enables proactive identification, prioritization, and mitigation of exposures and vulnerabilities, as well as the detection and investigation of emerging threats across the attack surface.
The second tip is to address vulnerability overload through prioritization. Security teams often struggle with managing a high volume of vulnerabilities, leading to a lack of prioritization and potentially wasting resources on low-risk issues while leaving critical exposures unaddressed. By partnering with a security operations team that evaluates vulnerabilities based on their risk of exploitation and potential business impact, organizations can effectively prioritize their efforts. Continuous collaboration between vulnerability management teams, SOC analysts, and threat hunters enables organizations to create a dynamic feedback loop for proactive improvement in their security posture. Automated or manual actions based on predefined SLAs provided by managed vulnerability services can streamline the remediation process, ultimately reducing the mean time to remediation (MTTR).
The third tip is to utilize integrated teams and technology for proactive threat management. For organizations without an in-house SOC, integrating expert teams and advanced technology is essential for eliminating blind spots and maintaining year-round security. By leveraging specialists like SOC analysts, cybersecurity consultants, and vulnerability management engineers, organizations can benefit from a diverse range of expertise to address security gaps. Partnering with managed security service providers that offer rapid onboarding, system setup, and platform fine-tuning can simplify and accelerate security operations without the need for costly in-house development. Additionally, integrating advanced tools like endpoint security, vulnerability management, and risk management platforms provides organizations with enhanced detection, response, and enrichment capabilities to combat evolving cyber threats effectively.
In conclusion, eliminating attack surface blind spots requires a comprehensive approach that combines visibility, prioritization, and proactive threat management. By partnering with LevelBlue, organizations can improve their ability to detect, respond to, and recover from sophisticated attacks, gain real-time insights into risks and exposures, and navigate complex regulatory requirements with ease. By taking advantage of LevelBlue’s integrated services and technology, organizations can enhance their cybersecurity posture and better protect against the ever-evolving threat landscape.