10/29/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/29/2024 16:12
"Attack surface" is a term that gained popularity as companies started using cloud services and adopting remote working cultures. These practices have created more opportunities for attack surfaces, making systems more vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
According to the official cybercrime report released in 2023, worldwide cybercrime costs are estimated to reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025. With the growing need to secure their applications, managers and developers of IT companies have started taking action to minimize attack surfaces.
In this article, let's dive into what attack surfaces are, why they are important to your organization, and steps your organization can take to minimize attack surfaces.
An attack surface is a set of points on the boundary of a system or an environment where an attacker can try to enter or cause an effect. Basically, any vulnerability, pathway, or method that allows someone to carry out a cybersecurity attack on your system can be considered part of the attack surface. Attack surfaces can be found anywhere including network devices such as routers, firewalls, security vulnerabilities in web and mobile apps, and user accounts.
This is why managing attack surfaces properly through continuous monitoring and fixing vulnerabilities is important. Poorly managed attack surfaces can provide easy opportunities for hackers to carry out attacks.
There are so many factors that can explain the attack surface of an organization creating more entry points for cyberattacks. We can list some of them below.
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Prevention is always better than cure. By understanding and managing the attack surfaces, organizations can take the necessary steps to secure them. By securing entry points to cyberattacks, organizations can prevent data breaches from happening at all.
Also, managing attack surfaces is often a requirement for compliance with data protection and privacy laws. Moreover, securing attack surfaces guarantees that critical systems remain operational and free from disruptions caused by cyber incidents.
Although we talk about cyberattacks in general, it would benefit you to know what kinds of cyber threats are particularly associated with attack surfaces. The most common types of threats you see are phishing attacks, which trick individuals into revealing sensitive information or downloading malware. Other security threats include:
When a security analyst performs attack surface management, part of their job is analyzing all attack surfaces. For that, they need to have a clear understanding of all types of attack surfaces, which are listed below.
Digital attack surfaces include the software, hardware, and network components vulnerable to cyberattacks. Some common attack vectors that typically make up a digital attack surface are listed below.
Physical attack surfaces involve the tangible aspects of an organization's security perimeter that are accessible through physical means. These surfaces can be compromised through various methods that directly impact the hardware and devices within a company.
The social engineering attack surface is about the weaknesses in human behavior. Attackers exploit things like trust or curiosity. For example, phishing attacks involve tricking people into giving out sensitive information by pretending to be someone trustworthy.
Baiting is another trick, where attackers leave things like USB drives lying around, hoping someone will pick them up and use them, which can compromise security. Educating people to spot these tricks is crucial for reducing the risk of data breaches and keeping operations safe.
Some people find it hard to understand the difference between attack surface and attack vector. Attack vectors and attack surfaces are related concepts in cybersecurity. An attack vector is a specific method a hacker uses to get into a system, like phishing or malware. An attack surface is the total number of points where a hacker might try to get in or steal data from a system.
Here's a table to show the differences between attack vectors and attack surfaces.
Aspect | Attack Vector | Attack Surface |
Definition | The method or pathway used by cybercriminals to gain access. | The total number of vulnerable points available for attack. |
Examples | Phishing, malware, compromised passwords, encryption issues. | Devices, networks, APIs, endpoints, user accounts. |
Focus | Specific tactics and techniques used in an attack. | A broad overview of all potential vulnerabilities. |
Mitigation | Targeted defenses against specific types of attacks. | Comprehensive measures to reduce overall vulnerabilities. |
Relationship | Constitutes part of the attack surface. | Comprises various attack vectors. |
Let's look at some of the steps organizations can take to minimize attack surfaces.
There are three major challenges most modern organizations face when minimizing attack surfaces. Those are:
This is why you should take the help of various software products built for attack surface management to increase the efficiency and speed of the overall process.
In this article, we talked about what an attack surface is and why it matters for companies. We also covered how to reduce it, what attack surface management is, the challenges in reducing attack surfaces, and the tools that can help. By knowing these ideas, companies can make their cybersecurity much stronger and protect better against cyber threats.