10 Benefits of Attack Surface Management (ASM) for Enterprises

As businesses continue to redefine the way they operate digitally, the security landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. Organizations are embracing cloud technologies, facilitating remote work arrangements, and interacting with a growing network of third-party services. This expansion brings about heightened exposure, creating a more extensive and constantly evolving range of potential threats that require vigilant safeguarding.

Attackers, too, have evolved, exploiting the complexities of this new digital frontier. They are unrelenting, orchestrating multifaceted attacks that traverse an organization’s infrastructure and operations, while also capitalizing on the growing cybercrime ecosystem. Against this backdrop, Attack Surface Management (ASM) emerges as a powerful ally, offering a comprehensive approach to help fortify an enterprise’s cybersecurity defenses. In this blog, you can learn the ten invaluable advantages that ASM brings to the forefront, shaping enterprise security.

Understanding Attack Surface Management

Attack surface management (ASM) is an approach that identifies exposed assets and associated vulnerabilities for prioritization and remediation to build cyber resiliency. ASM scans both the internal and external attack surfaces extending beyond the traditional network perimeter encompassing digital assets such as networks and systems, external applications, APIs, domains and subdomains, cloud resources, and more.

Benefits of Attack Surface Management (ASM) for Enterprises

Attack Surface Management (ASM) offers a multitude of benefits, ranging from enhanced cybersecurity resilience and a reduced attack surface. Let’s explore 10 benefits associated with ASM for enterprises:

1. Enhanced Visibility: One of the primary advantages of ASM is its ability to provide enterprises with enhanced visibility of their attack surface. Without proper visibility, this increases the potential for enterprises to be unaware of potential vulnerabilities and threats in blind spots. ASM solutions use various techniques to identify exposed assets and associated vulnerabilities, including those that are known or those that are unknown due to Shadow IT and the Dark Web.
   By gaining a comprehensive view of an organization’s attack surface, enterprises can make informed decisions about which vulnerable assets require additional security measures, updates, or some type of mitigation. This discovery and mapping allow for a more effective and long-term cybersecurity strategy.
2. Proactive Risk Assessment: ASM enables enterprises to proactively assess their security risks by going beyond the traditional vulnerability scanning by considering the context in which assets operate. This means understanding how different assets are interconnected and how vulnerabilities in one area can potentially impact others. By assessing risk in this holistic manner, organizations can prioritize their security efforts where they are needed most to increase efficiency and efficacy.
   Moreover, ASM helps organizations identify “Shadow IT” or unauthorized assets and services that might be lurking within their infrastructure. This is crucial because such hidden assets can pose significant security risks if left unaddressed.
3. Vulnerability Prioritization: Once vulnerabilities are identified, ASM tools assist in vulnerability prioritization, which includes categorizing vulnerabilities based on severity and potential impact for remediation. By addressing vulnerabilities promptly, organizations can significantly reduce the window of opportunity for attackers, making it more challenging for them to exploit weaknesses in their security infrastructure.
4. Compliance and Regulation: Many industries and sectors are subject to strict regulatory requirements due to state and federal compliance regulations and consumer data privacy laws. ASM can be a valuable tool in ensuring compliance with these regulations. By continuously testing exposed assets and proactively addressing associated vulnerabilities, enterprises can demonstrate their commitment to cybersecurity best practices essential to complying with audits and regulators.
5. Threat Intelligence Integration: Attack surface management (ASM) can integrate with threat intelligence data, either through feeds or historical data captured by AI-powered platforms, enabling organizations to identify the latest threats and attack vectors. This allows enterprises to correlate vulnerability data, whether through external sources or historical data, patterns, and anomalies detected over time, across their attack surface. This threat intelligence and attack mapping can provide invaluable, providing detection of potential threats and helping security teams to adapt their defenses accordingly.
6. Reduced Attack Surface: The ultimate goal of ASM is to reduce an organization’s attack surface, making it harder for attackers to find vulnerabilities and gain access to critical systems. By continuously monitoring and managing their attack surfaces, organizations can systematically eliminate unnecessary exposed assets and vulnerabilities, thereby reducing the overall risk profile.
7. Incident Response Preparation: In the unfortunate event of a security incident, having a well-maintained ASM program in place can significantly aid in incident response as this data provides a gateway to exposed attacker entry points. Security teams will already have a contextual understanding of the organization’s attack surface, attack paths, and the exposure that led to the security incident. This knowledge is invaluable when it comes to rapidly assessing the impact of an incident and triaging a response plan.
8. Business Continuity: An effective ASM approach, along with other security testing tools, can contribute to business continuity by reducing the likelihood and impact of potential cyberattacks. By reducing exposed assets and associated vulnerabilities, and having a proactive security stance, organizations can maintain an offensive security strategy.
9. Cost Savingszz: While implementing attack surface management may involve initial costs, the long-term benefits can result in significant cost savings. By reducing the risk of data breaches and cyberattacks, organizations can avoid the financial and reputational damage that such incidents can cause. Additionally, the efficiency gained through gaining an understanding of actual risk can reduce time and resources.
10. Competitive Advantage: Lastly, enterprises that prioritize cybersecurity through measures by including attack surface management (ASM) in their testing armamentarium can aid in the confidence of not only your customers but also senior executives and board members. Customers and partners are increasingly concerned about the security practices within their supply chain. Demonstrating a strong commitment to cybersecurity best practices can help gain a competitive advantage by attracting new business opportunities.

About BreachLock

BreachLock is a global leader in Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) and penetration testing services that also offer Attack Surface Management.  BreachLock offers automated, AI-powered, and human-delivered solutions in one integrated platform based on a standardized built-in framework that enables consistent and regular benchmarks of attack techniques, security controls, and processes. By creating a standardized framework, BreachLock can deliver enhanced predictability, consistency, and accurate results in real time, every time.
Schedule a discovery call with one of our experts to discover how BreachLock ASM can help to increase your cybersecurity posture.