What is attack surface area, and how can it be reduced?

The attack surface area represents all the possible entry points for an attacker to exploit the system. Managing and controlling the total exposure area is important to reduce the risks of successful cyberattacks. It helps simplify the security management of the organization and save resources. A smaller and reduced attack surface area limits the possible vulnerable entry points of attacks and makes it harder for attackers to carry out attacks. This approach helps strengthen organizational security and ensures a defense mechanism against security threats.

Elements of attack surface area

There are various elements of attack surface area, some of the most common are shown below:

In this Answer, we’ll discuss the attack surface area and the significance of reducing it.

Attack surface area

The attack surface area covers all the points malicious actors can exploit for unauthorized access, operation disruption, and data leakage. Understanding and managing an organization’s total attack surface area is an important safeguarding metric.

The attack surface area of an organization consists of the following entry points associated with the target system:

1. Network: The open ports and services associated with the network can help bring in malicious traffic. The services include web services, email services, and databases. Outdated, unmonitored, and wrongly configured network services can be a security hazard.

2. Software and installed applications: Using illegal, unpatched, and outdated software can be a potential entry point for attackers. More applications lead to more entry points.

3. Third-party services: The use of third-party services and APIs can introduce vulnerabilities in a system. The services must be analyzed as to what port and services they use to operate to get an idea of the attack surface it covers.

4. Access points: Each user and a device associated with the target system is a vulnerability. The user accounts associated with the devices are also the weak points of a system to exploit. Weak and compromised credentials can be used to gain unauthorized access to the target system.

5. Employees: Social engineering techniques pulled up on the employees within an organization can increase the attack surface area. Employee behavior analysis and training are essential to managing the total attack surface area.

6. IoT and cloud: Adopting the cloud and using the Internet of Things (IoT) devices can increase the possible attack surface area. Unconfigured, unmonitored, and unmanaged devices can be a potential security hazard.

Reducing attack surface area

A large surface area poses a security hazard to the organization, making it difficult to manage and control. Managing a large attack surface area is a resource drain on the organization. The possible approaches to manage and control exposure to attack are:

1. Inventory and asset management: Making and managing the inventory of all assets, including hardware, software, applications, and data, can help keep track of all the access points within an organization. Having a track of all assets can help analyze the breadth of vulnerabilities in a system.

2. Vulnerability assessment: Regular vulnerability assessment and penetration testing on the organization can help keep track of the vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the organization’s assets and applications. Prioritization and solving the vulnerabilities in order of priority can help reduce the risk of attack.

3. Patch management: An active patch management process can help patch vulnerabilities in the system. This helps in minimizing the entry points to the system.

4. Network segmentation: Dividing the network into smaller segments can help manage the network. Alongside segmentation, it is important to have firewalls and access control systems in the network. This technique is useful in isolating high-value assets to reduce exposure.

5. Asset and data classification: Classification of data as high priority and high risk can help prioritize and focus the security measures on solving issues associated with high-priority assets.

6. Access management: Managing access to networks by defining access-control rules and system access rights is essential to allow limited access to the assets within an organization. This limits the potential success rate of an unauthorized access attack.

7. Application security: Adopting secure coding practicing and conducting regular security assessments on the application is necessary to identify the loopholes within the application installed. Identifying vulnerabilities can help patch them and manage the resource access authorized to the application.

8. User training: It is important to create awareness among the employees about the possible security risks associated with using illegal websites and engaging with unauthorized personnel about the organization’s secrets. Implementing web and email security and monitoring can help reduce social engineering attacks.

Adopting the reduction steps can help reduce attack surface area.

Benefits of reducing attack surface area

It is important to acknowledge the benefits of reducing the attack surface and how it can strengthen the organization’s security posture. Actively reducing attack surface area can reduce the risks of attacks. Other benefits are:

1. Security enhancement: Reducing the attack surface area leaves no room for entry points, hence strengthening the security of the system,

2. Simplify management: Greater attack surface means more resources to manage the surface area vulnerable to attack. The resources can be used for their intended purpose by reducing the attack surface area.

3. Wise resource allocation: Only critical functions and operations would be assigned resources to avoid wastage and efficient use of system resources.

To conclude, it is important to identify the elements of the target system’s attack surface and the vulnerabilities associated with the elements. Managing the assets and surface area includes prioritizing the assets, patching the vulnerabilities, removing unauthorized software, and defining rules for firewalls and access control.

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