SecurityWeek: Cyber Insights 2023 | Attack Surface Management

On January 31, NetSPI Managing Director Chad Peterson was featured in the SecurityWeek article called Cyber Insights 2023 | Attack Surface Management. Read the preview below or view it online.

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SecurityWeek Cyber Insights 2023 | Attack Surface Management – Attack surface management (ASM) is an approach for delivering cybersecurity. IBM describes the attack surface as “the sum of vulnerabilities, pathways or methods – sometimes called attack vectors – that hackers can use to gain unauthorized access to the network or sensitive data, or to carry out a cyberattack.”

ASM requires “the continuous discovery, analysis, remediation and monitoring of the cybersecurity vulnerabilities and potential attack vectors that make up an organization’s attack surface. Unlike other cybersecurity disciplines, ASM is conducted entirely from a hacker’s perspective, rather than the perspective of the defender. It identifies targets and assesses risks based on the opportunities they present to a malicious attacker.”

ASM is consequently predicated on total visibility of assets, vulnerabilities, and exploits.

Management is the key word in ASM

The complexity of the modern infrastructure makes the complete elimination of threats an impossible task. ASM is not about the elimination of all threats, but the reduction of threat to an acceptable level. It’s a question of risk management.

Chad Peterson, MD at NetSPI, believes the nature and effectiveness of pentesting will evolve over 2023, “The attack surface has become more fluid, so you have to be able to scan for new assets and entry points continuously,” he says. “In 2023, organizations will combine traditional pentesting, which in many cases will still be required for regulatory needs, with the proactive approach of more continuous assessment of their attack surface. The result will be better awareness of the attack surface and more comprehensive traditional pentesting as there is more information about the true attack surface.”

Read the full article at SecurityWeek!