External Attack Surface Management Platforms

Your organization’s attack surface is constantly growing. As technology evolves, almost every company is undergoing digital transformations to stay competitive. However, the more applications, devices, and networks are connected, the more your external attack surface expands. External Attack Surface Management (EASM) platforms help you manage your growing attack surface by monitoring your network for possible attack vectors.

What is Flare’s External Attack Surface Management Platform? 

How does Flare’s platform answer EASM needs?

With an ever-expanding external attack surface, it can be difficult for your security team to manually monitor every possible attack vector. Many organizations use a variety of tools to monitor several channels, but still encounter coverage issues. Flare enables you to map your organization’s external attack surface to identify new attack vectors, while monitoring threat intelligence so that you know when threat actors are trying to attack you.

What are the key benefits of the Flare EASM platform? 

• Relevant threat information: Rather than wasting your team’s time with unnecessary alerts, Flare cuts through the noise, sending only the alerts that matter to your team. 
• Visibility: Flare maps your attack surface, giving you a real-time view of your external attack surface, allowing your security team to focus on high-risk Internet-facing assets.
• Proactive monitoring: Flare automates threat detection, monitoring sources on the clear and dark web, as well as illicit Telegram channels for external threats to your organization. This gives you 24/7 proactive monitoring of your external attack surface. 

 How does Flare help monitor your attack surface?

There is often too much attack surface for your security team to monitor it manually. Flare’s solution monitors all public-facing assets 24/7 to find vulnerabilities. It then sends alerts with only the most pertinent information. Security teams are faced with a lot of noise from threat management tools; Flare’s platform cuts through the noise by providing high-fidelity, actionable intelligence specific to your organization.

External Attack Surface Management Platforms: The Basics

What is your external attack surface? 

An external attack surface includes all Internet-facing digital vulnerabilities that can compromise your data and networks. It can include several kinds of assets: 

• Known assets: Registered domains and subdomains, SSL certificates, servers, devices, applications, and any endpoints used by your employees.
• Unknown assets: Shadow IT, old and forgotten apps or infrastructure, or orphaned user accounts that weren’t shut down when the user left the organization.
• Third-party assets: Any assets that have access to your networks and data, such as vendors, third parties, or partners.
• Malicious assets: Fake domains and subdomains that criminals sometimes create to impersonate your brand and trick unsuspecting customers.

What is external attack surface management (EASM)? 

External attack surface management (EASM) is the process of scanning for, finding, analyzing and remediating all of the vulnerabilities and possible attack vectors in an organization’s Internet-facing attack surface. This means security teams must think like attackers, trying to find and fix vulnerabilities in an organization’s defenses before a bad actor does. 

How does an external attack surface management platform detect breaches? 

EASM solutions actively look for vulnerabilities and stolen data, using reconnaissance, vulnerability scanning, and threat intelligence. These techniques find holes in your external attack surface and give your security team the information they need to fix vulnerabilities.

Why Do You Need External Attack Surface Management Platforms Right Now? 

Why are EASM platforms so important in today’s cybersecurity landscape? 

Two out of three organizations say their external attack surface became larger in the last year. Unfortunately, that means those organizations have more vulnerabilities for attackers to exploit – and thanks to things like Shadow IT, your team may not even know the extent of your external attack surface.. Mapping the attack surface is a vital step in securing your data.

What is shadow IT? 

Shadow IT is any technology being used by departments or individuals within a company without approval from the central information technology department. Unfortunately IT can’t protect technology it doesn’t know about; shadow IT presents a major risk to organizations when it comes to attack surfaces;  7 in 10 organizations were compromised by shadow IT.

How can your organization protect its external attack surface against external threats?

• Regular patching: Install security updates as soon as they are released to mitigate vulnerabilities.
• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): Detect abnormal endpoint activity and automate responses to mitigate risks arising from things like ransomware and malware
• Cyber awareness training: Train employees so that they can detect and report suspicious behavior.
• Encryption: Encrypt both data-at-rest and data-in-transit to protect data from criminals.
• Dark web monitoring: Scan the dark web and illicit Telegram channels to identify leaked credentials and targeted threats.

External Attack Surface Management Platforms and Flare 

Flare provides the leading Threat Exposure Management (TEM) solution for organizations. Our technology constantly scans the online world, including the clear & dark web, to discover unknown events, automatically prioritize risks, and deliver actionable intelligence you can use instantly to improve security. This empowers your team to monitor your organization’s external attack surface and protect your data against threat actors. 

Our solution integrates into your security program in 30 minutes to provide your team with actionable intelligence and automated remediation for high-risk exposure. See it yourself with our free trial.