In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, organizations are constantly facing threats from cybercriminals looking to exploit vulnerabilities in their IT assets. This is where an attack surface management program, or ASM program, comes into play. An ASM program is designed to help organizations identify, inventory, classify, and monitor all of their digital assets, both internal and external, to protect sensitive data, maintain a strong security posture, and prevent cyberattacks and data breaches.

But what exactly is an attack surface? An organization’s attack surface refers to the sum of all its exposed IT assets, whether secure or vulnerable, known or unknown, or in active use or not. This includes everything from internal-facing assets like private networks, devices, and apps to external-facing assets like web apps and public cloud services. In the digital age, attack surfaces are vast and continuously expanding, making it increasingly challenging for organizations to safeguard their digital assets.

Attack surface management is crucial for organizations in today’s cybersecurity landscape. It involves continuous processes such as identifying, inventorying, classifying, and monitoring digital assets, assessing their exposure to cyberthreats, and analyzing and mitigating potential attack vectors and vulnerabilities. By implementing an effective attack surface management program, organizations can better protect their sensitive data, strengthen their security posture, and shield themselves from cyber threats and data breaches.

Building a successful attack surface management program requires a multistage, multidisciplinary effort that involves board-level support and collaboration among various teams within the organization, including security, network, development, and HR teams, as well as individual business unit managers. The process begins with understanding the organization’s network and vulnerabilities, conducting risk assessments, and implementing network segmentation to reduce the attack surface.

Choosing the right ASM platform is crucial for the success of the program. Key features to look for in an ASM platform include automated discovery, continuous monitoring, an outside-in viewpoint, actionable alerts, and easy integration with existing cybersecurity platforms and services. Once the ASM platform is deployed, organizations must put policies and training in place to ensure that newly discovered assets are scrutinized and protected with appropriate security controls.

Measuring the success of the ASM platform and program is essential to ensure that vulnerabilities are detected and remedied in a timely manner. Organizations should see a decrease in the number of unexpected new assets appearing, improved times to vulnerability detection and remediation, and a decline in the number of incidents that escalate to serious or critical levels. HR should continue to remind employees, especially remote workers, of their responsibility to minimize attack surfaces.

In conclusion, in today’s complex cybersecurity landscape, an effective attack surface management program is more important than ever. By implementing a comprehensive ASM program, organizations can protect their IT ecosystems, comply with security frameworks and regulatory standards, and safeguard their sensitive data from cyber threats.

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