Across enterprises globally, securing digital assets has become a top concern due to the evolving nature of cybersecurity threats. One term that is becoming increasingly relevant in this sphere is External Attack Surface Management (EASM). Considered a significant part of an organization's cybersecurity strategy, answering the query, 'what is external attack surface management', becomes exceedingly crucial.

An organization's external attack surface refers to the totality of digital exposure points, attainable from outside the organization's firewall by potential attackers. Essentially, these are points of interaction between software components, communication pathways, and potentially vulnerable hardware.

What is External Attack Surface Management?

In simple terms, External Attack Surface Management (EASM) involves identifying, tracking, analyzing, and securing all these external exposure points. The primary goal of EASM is to minimize the chances for adversaries to exploit your system, significantly reducing the organization's cyber risk vulnerability.

EASM employs a combination of security measures, such as Vulnerability assessments, Penetration testing, threat intelligence, and proactive remediation strategies, to strive for maximum system security.

Importance of External Attack Surface Management

Now that we have established 'what is external attack surface management', it is paramount to identify its importance in today's cybersecurity landscape.

Detecting Blind Spots

EASM enables organizations to identify blind spots in their cyber defenses. Often, these blind spots result from unused or forgotten assets, misconfigurations, or unnecessary services. By identifying and remediating these blind spots, organizations can significantly reduce their attack surface, thereby improving their overall security posture.

Threat Intelligence

EASM acts as a proactive form of threat intelligence. By continuously tracking the organization's external attack surface, EASM provides valuable information about potential threats even before they materialize. This intelligence allows organizations to prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities, often heading off attacks before they occur.

Regulatory Compliance

EASM also aids in regulatory compliance. A transparent digital profile, facilitated by effective EASM, ensures that organizations meet compliance standards, providing another layer of protection from potential vulnerabilities.

Steps for Implementing External Attack Surface Management

Implementing EASM successfully requires a coherent strategy. Here are some steps organizations can take:

Asset Discovery

The first step is asset discovery. An inventory of the organization’s digital assets, both active and dormant, is established in this phase. It involves understand what’s running on your network and going beyond that to identify all the devices, applications, and services that interact with your system—from IoT devices to web applications.

Risk Prioritization

Once the complete inventory of assets has been established, the next step is to identify and prioritize risks. It's unrealistic to think that all vulnerabilities can be remediated immediately. Therefore, a critical path is to identify high-risk issues and address those first. This can be done based on the level of exposure and potential damage an exploit can cause.

Continuous Monitoring

The last step, and perhaps the most important, is continuous monitoring. The threat landscape and our digital profiles change everyday with every new product launching, every old product decommissioning, and every update and patch released. Consequently, an effective EASM strategy involves continuously monitoring and adjusting the organization’s defenses in response to these changes.

Automating EASM

Gone are the days where monitoring and managing could be done efficiently with manual processes. Given the speed and complexity of today's threat landscape, automating EASM is not just a choice, but a necessity.

In Conclusion

Cybersecurity is a critical aspect of any contemporary business strategy given our ever-increasing dependence on digital platforms and systems. As such, understanding and implementing robust External Attack Surface Management (EASM) is an integral part of that strategy, responding to 'what is external attack surface management' with a resounding emphasis on its importance for detecting blind spots, enhancing threat intelligence, aiding in regulatory compliance, and overall, securing an organization's valuable digital assets from potential threats.