What Is Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM)?

What Is Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM)?

Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management, or CAASM, is a security solution that focuses on identifying and managing the attack surface of an organization's digital assets. The aim of CAASM is to minimize the potential entry points for cyber threats and reduce the risk of a successful cyber attack.

CAASM creates a detailed map of all the computers, servers, networks, and other digital assets your organization uses. It identifies potential weak spots in these assets that might be exploited by cyber attackers and provides actionable measures you can take to remediate vulnerabilities and prevent possible attacks.

CAASM involves regular monitoring, assessment, and management of your digital assets to ensure they remain secure as new threats emerge and technology evolves. This proactive approach to cybersecurity can significantly improve an organization’s cybersecurity posture.

This is part of a series of articles about attack surface.

How CAASM Works: 8 Key Components

CAASM is a layered approach to cybersecurity involving several key components. Let's look at each of these components in detail.

1. Asset Discovery

You can't protect what you don't know exists. Asset discovery is the process of identifying all the digital assets within an organization's network. This includes everything from computers and servers to mobile devices and cloud-based assets.

As new assets are added and old ones are retired, the asset inventory needs to be updated accordingly. This ensures that no asset is left unprotected and vulnerable to cyber threats.

2. Vulnerability Assessment

Once all assets have been identified, the next step is to assess them for vulnerabilities. This involves scanning the assets for known vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cyber attackers.

Vulnerability assessment also involves evaluating the potential impact of each vulnerability. This helps prioritize which vulnerabilities need to be addressed first, based on the potential damage they could cause.

3. Threat Prioritization

Not all threats are created equal. Some pose a higher risk to an organization than others. Threat prioritization is the process of ranking identified vulnerabilities based on their potential impact. This prioritization enables organizations to allocate their resources more effectively, addressing the most critical threats first.

4. Integration with Existing Security Tools

CAASM needs to be integrated with an organization's existing security tools in order to be effective. This includes everything from firewalls and antivirus software to intrusion detection systems and security information and event management (SIEM) systems.

By integrating CAASM with these tools, organizations can leverage their existing security infrastructure to further enhance their cybersecurity posture.

5. Continuous Monitoring

Cyber threats are constantly evolving. New vulnerabilities are discovered every day, and cyber attackers are always finding new ways to exploit them. This is why continuous monitoring is a key component of CAASM.

Continuous monitoring involves regularly scanning the network for changes that could indicate a potential threat. This includes new assets being added to the network, changes in user behavior, and signs of unauthorized access.

6. Remediation and Mitigation

CAASM systems can provide remediation guidance, allowing IT and security teams to fix security issues before they escalate. Some solutions provide automated patch deployment or configuration changes to improve security posture.

Mitigation involves implementing measures to reduce the impact of potential attacks. This could involve segregating networks, implementing access controls, or deploying intrusion prevention systems.

7. Reporting and Analysis

Reporting involves documenting the identified threats, the actions taken to address them, and the results of these actions. This provides a clear record of the organization's cybersecurity efforts and helps identify areas for improvement.

CAASM systems can evaluate the collected data to identify trends and patterns. This can provide valuable insights into the evolving threat landscape and help shape future cybersecurity strategies.

8. Incident Investigation

Despite your best efforts, breaches can and do occur. When they do, incident investigation becomes critical. CAASM supports incident investigation by providing rich information about cyber assets affected by a breach. This can help determine how the breach occurred, what assets were affected, and what measures need to be taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.

What Are the Benefits and Use Cases for CAASM?

Let’s look at some reasons to implement cyber asset attack surface management.

Automating Cyber Asset Inventory and Maintenance

One of the primary benefits of CAASM is its ability to automate cyber asset inventory and maintenance. Organizations often have thousands of cyber assets spread across multiple locations and platforms. Manually tracking and maintaining these assets is often infeasible.

CAASM automates this process, ensuring that all assets are accurately inventoried and maintained. This saves time and resources while reducing the risk of human error.

Reducing the Attack Surface

The attack surface is the total number of points where an unauthorized user can try to enter data to or extract data from an environment. The larger the attack surface, the more opportunities there are for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities and breach an organization's defenses.

CAASM helps to reduce the attack surface by identifying and eliminating unnecessary or redundant cyber assets, closing unused ports, and implementing other security measures. This minimizes the number of potential entry points for cybercriminals, reducing the risk of a successful attack.

Expediting Incident Response

In the event of a cyber incident, time is a critical factor. The faster an organization can identify, contain, and remediate a breach, the less damage it is likely to cause. CAASM can significantly expedite the incident response process.

By providing a real-time, comprehensive view of the attack surface, CAASM allows organizations to quickly identify and isolate affected assets, reducing the potential for further damage. Additionally, CAASM provides valuable insights that can inform the incident response process, helping organizations to mitigate the impact of a breach and recover more quickly.

Master Compliance Assessments

In many industries, organizations are required to comply with cybersecurity regulations and standards. Non-compliance can result in fines, reputational damage, and other serious consequences.

CAASM simplifies the compliance process by providing a comprehensive, up-to-date inventory of all cyber assets, as well as detailed information about their security status. This makes it easier for organizations to demonstrate compliance with regulations and standards and generate reports needed for compliance audits.

How Does CAASM Compare to Similar Technologies?

There are several related technologies that can be used to improve an organization’s cybersecurity posture. Let’s compare these to CAASM.

CAASM vs. CSPM

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) focuses on identifying misconfigurations and compliance risks within cloud infrastructures, primarily through continuous monitoring to detect gaps in security policy enforcement. While CSPM excels in spotting common misconfigurations and ensuring compliance with cloud environments, it often lacks the depth, visibility, and flexibility needed for monitoring custom configurations.

In contrast, CAASM offers a broader and more extensible approach. It not only encompasses the capabilities of CSPM but also provides comprehensive visibility across the entire attack surface, including both private and public clouds. CAASM goes beyond basic cloud configuration checks to monitor custom configurations and uncovers complex relationships and misconfigurations across all cyber assets. This enables organizations to have a more nuanced understanding and control over their security posture.

CAASM vs. CWPP

Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) is designed to protect workloads across various environments, including physical servers, virtual machines, containers, and serverless workloads. Its main goal is to scan and protect these workloads from misconfigurations, compliance violations, and security threats. CWPP is workload-centric, focusing on the security of the runtime environment and ensuring compliance with security policies and regulations.

CAASM offers a wider lens, focusing on the overall cyber asset attack surface, which includes not just the workloads but all associated assets within an organization's IT ecosystem. While CWPP provides essential protections for specific workloads, CAASM delivers a holistic view and continuous monitoring of all cyber assets. This includes identifying unknown risks, monitoring for compliance misconfigurations, and preventing drift in security and compliance postures across the entire cloud infrastructure.

CAASM vs. EASM

External Attack Surface Management (EASM) solutions focus on identifying external threats and vulnerabilities by scanning an organization's external digital footprint. EASM tools are adept at finding environment-based vulnerabilities and unknown external threats, helping organizations to secure their perimeter from potential attacks.

CAASM, however, provides a more integrated and comprehensive approach to cybersecurity. While EASM is crucial for understanding and mitigating external threats, CAASM extends this capability by offering complete visibility and management of all cyber assets, both internal and external. Through API integrations, CAASM solutions merge data from various sources to provide a unified view of an organization's entire cyber asset landscape.

CAASM vs. DRPS

Digital Risk Protection Services (DRPS) offers visibility into external threats by monitoring open-source intelligence, the dark web, deep web, and social media. Its main goal is to conduct risk assessments and protect an organization's brand by providing insights into potential threats, their strategies, and malicious activities. This information is crucial for threat intelligence analysis and helps organizations understand and mitigate external risks.

However, DRPS does not provide an inventory or comprehensive view of an organization's managed cyber assets. By contrast, CAASM offers a holistic view of an organization’s entire cyber asset infrastructure. CAASM aggregates data from various sources to overcome visibility and vulnerability challenges related to cyber assets. It not only helps in identifying what assets are present but also analyzes the attack surface to secure them against potential threats.

CAASM vs. CMDB

A Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is a centralized repository that stores detailed information about an organization's IT assets and their relationships. It supports various IT operations and change management processes, including incident, problem, and release management, by offering a clear view of the IT environment. This information is essential for effective IT service management and operational efficiency.

CAASM focuses on identifying, analyzing, and securing the organization's attack surface. Its primary goal is to minimize the likelihood of successful cyber attacks by identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities across the IT infrastructure, applications, and data.

While CMDB is pivotal for IT operations and managing changes within the IT environment, CAASM is geared towards cybersecurity and attack surface management. However, these two systems can complement each other. Information stored in a CMDB can inform CAASM processes by identifying assets and their configurations, which can then be analyzed for vulnerabilities and secured.

Implementing CAASM in Your Organization

Let’s look at some of the measures you can take to successfully implement CAASM in your organization.

Identify the Tools to Connect to CAASM

Start with identifying the tools that may hold asset information, which can be integrated with CAASM. These tools range from network security systems, IT service management tools, vulnerability management solutions, and more.

Your network security systems provide vital information about the network's architecture, the devices connected to it, and their respective configurations. With the data from these systems, you can map out your organization's cyber asset attack surface and identify the potential weak points that could be exploited by attackers.

IT service management tools give you visibility into your IT infrastructure, allowing you to track and manage the life cycle of your IT assets. By integrating your IT service management tools with CAASM, you can ensure that all your IT assets are accounted for and protected.

Vulnerability management solutions identify, classify, and help mitigate vulnerabilities in your IT infrastructure. By integrating these solutions with CAASM, you can ensure that vulnerabilities are promptly addressed, reducing your organization's cyber asset attack surface.

Map Your Departments and Organizational Structure

Identify the departments within your organization, the roles they play, and how they interact with one another.

First, determine the key departments in your organization that interact with IT assets. These may include your IT department, operations, finance, human resources, and more. Understanding these interactions will help you identify the assets that each department uses, and how they contribute to your organization's cyber asset attack surface.

Next, you need to understand your organizational structure. This involves identifying the hierarchy of your organization, the decision-making processes, and how information flows within your organization. This understanding helps you identify the key stakeholders in your CAASM implementation, their roles, and how they can contribute to its success.

Identify Asset Owners

Asset owners are individuals or departments within your organization that are responsible for the operation and security of specific IT assets. These individuals have the necessary knowledge and authority to make decisions about their assets. They can provide valuable input in your CAASM strategy, helping you understand the risks associated with their assets, and the measures needed to mitigate them.

Moreover, by involving asset owners in your CAASM implementation, you can ensure their buy-in and support, increasing the likelihood of your CAASM strategy's acceptance and effective implementation.

Build and Update Workflows for Remediation and Incident Response

Structured workflows are crucial in ensuring that vulnerabilities and incidents are promptly addressed, reducing your organization's cyber asset attack surface. Your remediation workflows should clearly outline the steps to be taken in addressing identified vulnerabilities. These steps may include assessing the severity of the vulnerability, identifying the affected assets, implementing the necessary fixes, and verifying the success of the remediation.

Next, establish incident response workflows that detail how your organization should respond to security incidents. This includes the initial detection and analysis of the incident, the containment, eradication, and recovery measures, and the post-incident activities aimed at preventing recurrence.

CAASM for External Assets with CyCognito

Today's attack surfaces are growing exponentially, leaving organizations in a constant state of catch-up. Managing this ever-shifting landscape is a complex challenge, fueled by diverse assets scattered across remote workforces and a network of applications in constant flux. The biggest risk lurks in the shadows: the "unknown unknowns" we can't see. Working in isolation, traditional security tools are blind to these hidden threats and leave externally exposed assets vulnerable. These challenges, combined together with an ever-evolving threat landscape (what was secure yesterday may be vulnerable today), create a perfect storm of opportunity for threat actors and a nightmare of risk for security and operations teams.

CyCognito excels at identifying previously unknown and hidden assets and solves one of the most fundamental business problems in cybersecurity: seeing how attackers view your organization, where they are most likely to break in, what systems and assets are at risk, and how to eliminate the exposure. CAASM streamlines internal asset inventory and enforces security policy and prioritization. By working together, these tools provide a comprehensive view of an organization's digital environment, enabling them to effectively protect and manage their assets against a wide range of cyberattacks.

Learn more about CyCognito.