Attack Surface Management

Chapter 1. Laying the Groundwork: An Overview of Attack Surface Management

Attack surface management (ASM) is more than just a cybersecurity buzzword that can help you sound savvy in meetings. Respected industry analysts like Gartner have recognized ASM as a valuable framework for managing emerging threats and organizational attack surfaces since 2022. The US government, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and other regulatory bodies have increasingly emphasized the importance of reducing risk and minimizing your attack surface. ASM is designed to provide actionable insights that deepen visibility into the vulnerabilities and risks of your organization’s digital footprint. The purpose of ASM is to proactively identify threats and mitigate vulnerabilities before they become entry points for attackers. Doing this across multiple environments is complex, critical, and challenging. For this reason, it has emerged as a strategic imperative for security teams in organizations of all sizes.

Attack Surface Management: What It Is and Why It Matters

ASM plays an essential role in efficiently managing cybersecurity programs, reducing risk, improving compliance, and proactively improving your organizational security posture to ensure business continuity and build cyber resilience. This framework encompasses several aspects designed to help determine where attacks may occur and what kind of impact they may have. It does this through a process of identifying, classifying, ...