Is it Time for a Preemptive Cybersecurity Posture? [5 Questions to follow]
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Every day, we see more global turmoil. Geo-political unrest, economic slowdowns, rising inflation and supply chain issues…it seems there is more uncertainty than ever before. Add to this, business shifts between ‘work from home,’ ‘back to the office,’ ‘stored in the cloud’ and ‘bring your own device,’ and the picture quickly gets complicated. This level of complexity gives rise to vulnerabilities and within vulnerabilities, cybercriminals thrive. For CISOs, keeping business systems secure gets harder every year as cybercriminals become better at finding these vulnerabilities and the means to exploit them. Continually re-fortifying end-points seems to be merely an exercise against time as bad actors find new ways in. So shouldn’t we approach securing systems the same way bad guys approach infiltrating them: from the outside-in? And shouldn’t we do it faster, better and more thoroughly than the bad actors can?
Find and eliminate vulnerabilities before they’re weaponized and you keep the ‘keys’ to your kingdom out of reach and your ‘doors’ hidden.
So how can you be sure it’s time for this approach? Ask yourself these 5 questions:
1) How closely am I able to monitor all my external attack surfaces?
External Attack Surface Management (EASM) is the continuous discovery, inventory, classification, prioritization and monitoring of sensitive external assets within an organization’s IT infrastructure. But it’s nearly impossible to keep up with the ever-growing number of known and unknown assets: devices, file servers, cloud buckets, files and applications shared with suppliers and partners, linked to outside technology solutions and stored in the cloud. The fact is that an increasing number of assets now reside beyond firewalled perimeters.
2) Can I identify all my internet-accessible assets?
One thing is for sure: You can’t secure what you can’t see. The internet is bigger, broader and more extensive than ever, and growing exponentially every day. The potential that unknown attack surfaces are hiding within it is a certainty. Without visibility of all assets and access points, whether they are directly connected to your network or not, your systems are vulnerable. There’s no way to proactively monitor and protect a digital footprint if you’re unsure of its size.
3) Do I have critical vulnerabilities I don’t know about?
Most likely, yes. According to IBM’s X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2022, over the past five years, the number of vulnerabilities discovered annually has steadily increased. More concerning is the number of exploits, or tools, threat actors use to take advantage of vulnerabilities, is also rising. One way of staying ahead of the curve is to think like an attacker and preemptively look for security flaws from the outside in, so you can address them before systems are compromised. This is why EASM is a very effective first line of defense for threat detection.
4) How well is my supply chain protected?
Do you have a complete picture of your interconnected digital ecosystem, including all vendors, suppliers, customers, partners, clients, distributors, patients, and other third-party relationships? Most CISO don’t; their ecosystems are just too vast, too distributed and, frankly, too unknown. Even if you do, your vendors likely have risk factors they’re not aware of. Or, their vendors have unknown risk factors, or their vendors’ vendors…you get the picture. Monitoring your entire ecosystem of 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-party connections requires a holistic, preemptive, outside-in strategy.
5) How difficult is it to adopt a preemptive strategy?
The cost or effort to implement CybelAngel’s External Risk Protection is infinitely easier and less costly than a single breach, yet according to recent Forrester Research, it helps the composite CybelAngel customer avoid two major breaches annually, in addition to saving on cyber insurance premiums. CybelAngel’s External Risk Protection Platform is built upon almost a decade-long history of machine learning activity and is the foundation for both the CybelAngel Digital Risk Protection Solution (DRPS) and Xtended External Attack Surface Management Solution (EASMX). CybelAngel’s External Risk Protection platform scans the darkest depths of the internet every 24 hours to find exposed attack surfaces and leaked information. Then, experienced CybelAngel analysts thoroughly review all identified threats, alert you to only the critical issues in need of monitoring or remediation, and identify unknown assets for inventory and management. You can even choose to have the CybelAngel team conduct remediations so you stay focused on business-critical activities.