The Need for Attack Surface Management in Modern Enterprises

The attack surface of an organization is rapidly growing with the expansion of cloud adoption, connected devices, and the increasing integration of AI systems being used by modern enterprises. This increase has emphasized the importance of securing and continuously managing an organization’s attack surface, especially against time-sensitive threats where threat actors try to exploit gaps in an organizations’ visibility of their vulnerabilities. 

A single breach caused by a lack of visibility of an organization’s attack surface can ripple across an organization, leading to costly downtime, regulatory penalties, and irreparable damage to customer trust. Despite these potential threats, many organizations continue to rely on outdated, reactive security practices, clinging to a false sense of control as threats evolve faster than their defenses. Traditional security methods, like periodic scans or manual audits, are akin to using a rearview mirror to navigate a twisting road. They might uncover vulnerabilities after the fact but fail to provide the continuous oversight needed to preempt attacks.

Why enterprises need Attack Surface Management today

Attack Surface Management delivers business value in an era where new assets appear faster than security teams can identify them. These benefits strengthen an organization’s overall security posture beyond just reducing the likelihood of a cyberattack.

Prioritizing evolving threats

Modern enterprises that don’t have an Attack Surface Management tool often face challenges with ineffective risk prioritization. Without a clear understanding of which external assets are exposed or at risk, it becomes difficult to prioritize security efforts. This leads security teams to take a reactive approach to cybersecurity, where they focus on threats only after they’ve become apparent, such as after a data breach. It can also mean they are fixing and patching vulnerabilities blindly instead of prioritizing those that have the potential to cause the biggest issue.

Discovering blind spots

Today’s modern infrastructures are in constant motion, which means shadow IT thrives as employees and teams deploy SaaS applications, cloud services, and third-party integrations outside security’s oversight.

These factors make traditional Attack Surface Management ineffective and periodic discovery methods fail to capture the rate of change, leaving organizations exposed for hours, days, or even months before security is alerted to a new risk. Attackers, however, aren’t waiting. They continuously scan for newly exposed assets, making real-time discovery a necessity.

To keep up and outpace threat actors and attackers, a continuous approach to asset discovery can transform how organizations defend their external perimeter and unknown assets. By continuously mapping the attack surface, security teams can move from reactive response to proactive defense. Instead of discovering exposures weeks or months after attackers have already found them, organizations can identify and address vulnerabilities as soon as they appear.

Meeting regulatory requirements

Many modern organizations work within industries that are subject to strict regulatory requirements due to government and federal compliance regulations and consumer data privacy laws. By continuously discovering unknown assets, mapping vulnerabilities, and supporting frameworks like PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR, Attack Surface Management helps organizations meet the stringent cybersecurity standards needed to reduce risk, and maintain customer trust.

Minimizing business impact

Modern enterprises not investing in Attack Surface Management can be left with unmanaged attack surfaces that pose significant risks, especially as threat actors are exploiting vulnerabilities faster than ever. According to IBM in 2019 it took ransomware groups over 60 days to gain access then attack, however, that was reduced to 4 days by 2021. Secureworks then reported in 2023 that ransomware was now being deployed within 24 hours of gaining access in over 50% of engagements.

The lack of visibility into potential entry points for cybercriminals not only makes it easier for attackers to compromise sensitive data without detection, but makes incident response and remediation a lot harder. Having a proactive approach increases visibility into potential risks, allowing for the prioritization and remediation of security gaps before they can be exploited, ultimately preventing successful cyberattacks and protecting sensitive data.

Best practices for implementing Attack Surface Management

For modern enterprises, a strong Attack Surface Management program starts with full visibility into every external-facing system, and to achieve this security teams should:

Automate asset discovery so security teams have an up-to-date map of their external attack surface.

Have a robust discovery process that incorporates DNS analysis, certificate tracking, third-party service monitoring, and cloud metadata analysis to identify assets tied to the organization.

Track what technologies are running, whether an asset is actively in use, and whether it is accessible externally.

Refine their prioritization strategy by moving beyond CVSS scores and assess factors like exploitability, exposure time, and business impact.

Assign asset and context-driven importance to assets that will ensure that security efforts align with business priorities.

Eliminate alert fatigue and implement a structured, risk-based approach, which ensures that security teams allocate their time and resources where they matter most.

Reduce exposure time by introducing Attack Surface Management tools that focus on hourly or real-time scanning of assets, providing visibility into exposures before attackers can exploit them.

Staying ahead of evolving threats

Attack Surface Management is not just a “nice to have” for modern enterprises anymore. It’s a proven strategy that enables organizations to stay ahead of evolving threats, reduce risk, and optimize security operations. With the Assetnote Attack Surface Management platform, organizations gain the tools to continuously discover, monitor, and secure their external-facing assets in real time, addressing vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. The platform delivers actionable insights, exploit-based verification, and comprehensive visibility, ensuring organizations can navigate the complexities of modern attack surfaces.