Why Visibility is an Essential Component of Your Application Security Approach

It’s funny how, over time, we accumulate knowledge that we encapsulate in a short phrase and then repeat it to each other. At Sourcefire, we had a foundational saying for cybersecurity:  “If you can’t see it, you can’t protect it.”  I doubt that was the first time such a phrase was coined. Yet, if you add to that the common notion that cybersecurity people, in general, get paid “to know,” it is in such times where we don’t know because we can’t see the bad events we labor so hard to avoid from happening.

Don’t you need your own eyes? 

Recently, I was talking with a distinguished colleague who told me Attack Surface Monitoring was not a priority for them, that there were so many products scanning them, giving security ratings, or assessing them for cyber insurance qualification, and so on, that it seems like a waste of budget. The whole time I was thinking, "If you want to see, don’t you need your own eyes?”  I mean, if visibility is critical to security operations, would it also not be important to application security both in the development phase, but also in the runtime application that is exposed to the adversary. If I have visibility only through others about my environment, how do I know the picture is complete? What if I need to see more than I am getting through passive consumption? I’m still pondering that conversation, so if you have a strong opinion, please read on and perhaps leave some wisdom as a comment.

Foresight for a Proactive Defense

We launched an Attack Surface Monitoring feature about a year ago. It is now adopted by nearly half of our customers and growing. This fact validated that people are coming to the platform for compliance and application security value being able to see what they have, which in turn encourages our product team to pursue more improvements like this. Our drive for innovation centers on building a robust defense and reliable control assurance. Achieving this demands foresight to anticipate vulnerabilities, combining automated tools to identify weaknesses, and thorough human testing to delve deeper. This approach aims to enhance both the efficiency and effectiveness of security outcomes.

Think of your attack surface as a sprawling digital castle. Traditional security tools focus on fortifying the walls with various access controls and guarding the gates through various detective controls. However, attackers constantly scout for hidden passageways, weak points in the defenses, and forgotten backdoors. Attack Surface Monitoring acts as a dedicated scout team. 
ASM helps you answer:

• Do you have applications coming online that you didn’t know about?
• Is your external application scanning covering these web apps and APIs?
• Are there new experiences such as AI/LLM that require more than automated testing? 

Continuous discovery provides the map, automated scanning helps identify weaknesses, and manual human testing allows your skilled team to exploit these vulnerabilities and identify potential attack avenues.

Get better, not just busy 

There are many challenges to securing complex applications that you serve your customers and partners. Do you feel like you are playing whack-a-mole with vulnerabilities? New issues pop up faster than you can patch or code fixes for the old ones. What if there was a way to stay one step ahead of attackers, constantly hunting for weaknesses before they can be exploited? Testing should not just lead to fixing bugs but addressing the root causes for the bugs you find as a continuous improvement process.

Consider Offensive Security Platforms

An Offensive Security platform can help. Rather than straddle silos, offensive security platforms aim to do many essential capabilities from one integrated as a service platform. We are talking about cyber security functions such as: 

• Monitor your attack surface
• Automate application scanning
• Help you realize where to perform manual, deeper penetration testing

Remember, good security is about more than just fancy tools. Strong communication is key. Here at Cobalt, we believe in customer success in the loop. Our ASM solutions seamlessly integrate with your existing security tools, providing clear and actionable reports that empower your security team and leadership to make informed decisions.

Don't settle for a reactive approach to cybersecurity, arm yourself with an offensive security platform.  Embrace the proactive power of Attack Surface Management. Contact us today for a free consultation and discover how ASM can help you build a robust offensive security strategy and gain a true competitive advantage.