Thorough Guide to Safeguarding Seven Attack Vectors
Furthermore, attacks via email will become increasingly difficult to identify due to generative AI (GenAI) which can empower an attacker to devise phishing and business email compromise (BEC) messages in highly realistic and attractive manners—and in any language. This extends the range of potential phishing targets.
Measures for organizations
Go above and beyond native email security by opting for a provider with layered defense employing the following technologies:
1. Email gateway, utilizing AI, ML, behavioral analysis, and authorship analysis;
2. Cloud application security broker (CASB) technology, inspecting inbox emails through link scanning, attachment analysis, and message scrutiny among peers to prevent compromised accounts from phishing other employees;
3. Secure web gateway (SWG), offering additional protection when a malicious link is clicked by examining traffic inline, conducting image assessment, and utilizing ML to scrutinize branded elements, login forms, and other site content for identification of counterfeit websites;
4. User training via integrated security awareness simulations and training where, ideally, the provider will present phishing scenarios based on templates extracted from recent, authentic phishing incidents
2. Internet and web applications
Threats
Cross-site scripting (XSS) maneuvers capitalize on coding errors on websites or web apps to elicit input from users. It’s understandable why XSS consistently ranks on the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Top 10 Web Application Security Risks—a serious XSS flaw in Ivory Search, a WordPress search extension, exposed 60,000 websites to hostile code injections. With the increasing trend of remote work and migration to cloud services leading to a surge in websites and applications, organizations must fortify their defenses against this primary attack path.
Actions you can take
Contemplate implementing the following three steps to mitigate your exposure:
- Rectify any vulnerabilities
- Survey for malicious scripts
- Deactivate any unnecessary ports on web servers
Moreover, CASB can aid in diminishing the hazards of utilizing software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications without negatively impacting user experience. It counteracts shadow IT, safeguards cloud account compromises, and remedies security deficiencies in third-party platforms such as Ivory Search. Additionally, CASB supplements the threat prevention capabilities of SWG solutions and leverages integration with the analytical prowess of extended detection and response (XDR).
The disparate logs from these once-separate solutions amalgamate to present a more comprehensive view of your ecosystem, facilitating the formation of a more detailed risk evaluation.
3. Weaknesses
Threats
Weaknesses can disrupt business operations by triggering system failures or shutdowns. Swedish supermarket chain Coop, for instance, had to close down 800 stores after malevolent actors exploited numerous zero-day vulnerabilities in Kaseya’s Virtual System Administrator (VSA) software to orchestrate a ransomware assault.
Furthermore, zero-days, n-days, and forever-days are on the rise. Trend™ Research recorded a 23% surge in the count of critical and high-severity vulnerabilities during the first half of 2022 reported to the Trend Micro™ Zero Day Initiative™ (ZDI) bug bounty program.
Steps you can take
Adopting these five risk-oriented patch management best practices can aid you in establishing a robust defense mechanism against vulnerability exploitation:
1. Determine the most pertinent patches through a prioritized patching process and consulting the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Known Exploited Vulnerability catalog.
2. Formulate a strategy for zero-days in advance by regularly monitoring networks for suspicious behavior and staying abreast of bug bounty initiatives like ZDI that capitalize on global threat insights
3. Engage with suppliers regarding the potential for reverting to previous software versions
4. Employ virtual patching to shield vulnerable systems while awaiting a vendor patch release
5. Communicate advantages to stakeholders to foster a security-centric culture within the organization and showcase the cybersecurity return on investment to the board
The application of ASRM aligns with these measures to streamline, inform, and boost the effectiveness of your risk monitoring and assessment processes. Analyzing a wide range of vital components such as asset importance, vulnerabilities, security stance, threat behavior, and exposure eliminates the guesswork regarding what impacts your risk, enabling more effective decision-making and leading to a more resilient risk response.
4. Gadgets
Threats
The transition to remote work laid bare the threats posed by virtual private networks (VPNs)—an initial point of attack granting access to the entire network. While a remote employee might only interact with legitimate work applications, other devices within the household could propagate malware through an insecure device connected to the VPN. With 82% of data breaches involving human elements, the proliferation of devices with access to an organization’s complete network significantly escalates cyber risks.
Steps you can take
63% of entities are transitioning from VPNs to zero trust network access (ZTNA) to curtail cyber risks across the attack surface as part of a broader zero trust strategy. ZTNA continuously authenticates the credibility of users and devices, exclusively granting access to the web portal frontend, thereby preventing a compromised device from advancing their attack across the attack surface.
Moreover, ZTNA offers the scalability necessary to supportAdvancing business operations. The direct application-to-client linkage doesn’t necessitate the same data capacity as VPNs, allowing for top-notch performance availability and consistent delivery without negatively affecting user satisfaction.
5. Island hopping
Potential Dangers
Island hopping, as its name suggests, involves transitioning from an external setting to your network. Software supply chain breaches are rising in frequency due to successful attacks on entities like Kaseya, Log4j, and SolarWinds. This initial attack pathway opens doors to various other avenues, including data distribution services (DDS), open-source code, system management tools, and purchased applications.
A Trend global survey disclosed that 52% of companies have a supply chain associate affected by ransomware, putting their systems at risk as well.
Actions to Take
The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) Essential guide released by CISA suggests six essential steps for enhancing software supply chain security:
1. Recognize: Identify the necessary stakeholders
2. Supervise: Establish security policies and procedures for your supply chain based on industry norms and leading practices, such as those outlined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
3. Evaluate: Grasp the hardware, software, and services you acquire
4. Understand: Chart out your supply chain to gain clarity on the components you procure
5. Confirm: Ascertain how your organization will assess supplier security habits
6. Analyze: Set deadlines and mechanisms to review supply chain practices against guidelines
6. Insider
Potential Dangers
A 2022 Ponemon Institute global report highlighted that containing insider threats now takes longer, increasing from 77 to 85 days, leading to higher containment costs for businesses. Regardless of whether the insider is unintentional, careless, or malicious, the consequences remain significant.
Actions to Take
Enhancing cyber hygiene through security education can help companies avoid mishaps from accidental or negligent insiders. To deal with other insider types, constant monitoring of incoming and outgoing traffic is vital. Additionally, having a prepared incident response plan can swiftly contain the threat if this initial attack route is exploited, limiting its spread and financial repercussions.
7. Cloud
Potential Dangers
The rise in cloud adoption due to digital advancements introduces new cybersecurity risks. According to the Trend Micro 2024 Midyear Cybersecurity Threat Report, exposure to risky cloud applications topped the list of the top five risk incidents during the initial half of the year. Our findings from May 2024 highlighted how misconfigurations in Container Advisor (cAdvisor) setups can render organizations vulnerable to threats like exploitation of vulnerabilities through container images, reconnaissance, and other tactics. Also, as per IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the costliest breach incidents were exclusively linked to public cloud, averaging US $5.17 million—a 13.1% surge from 2023—while multi-environment breaches were marginally less costly but more prevalent.
Actions to Take
Employing a cloud-native security platform that caters to varied cloud environments is crucial. Seek out a platform that can automate tasks like scanning infrastructure as code (IaC), checking open-source code, containers, and cloud workloads, whilst setting precise security protocols and conducting compliance assessments.
A united cybersecurity strategy for safeguarding attack vectors
You might be feeling overwhelmed by the necessity for numerous new security solutions. Frankly, deploying and managing individual security tools at each level is unfeasible, particularly given the talent shortage and staff turnover. Consider adopting a unified cybersecurity platform powered by AI to simplify operations and support existing capabilities, all the while ensuring security maturity.
Implementing a unified platform across diverse environments supporting broad third-party integrations assures holistic visibility from a single interface. Functions like automation, ongoing monitoring, and XDR play a pivotal role in ASRM. Enhanced visibility and comprehensive data correlation enable security teams to detect, evaluate, and mitigate threats throughout the risk lifecycle of the attack surface.
Since 2005, Trend has been leading the way in AI advancement, empowering both security operations center (SOC) analysts and threat hunters with technologies that streamline their tasks and enhance risk response capabilities. Through tools like Trend Companion™ and the Trend Vision One™ platform, organizations can tap into richer data, leverage superior analysis, and uncover actionable insights.
To delve deeper into ASRM, explore the following resources:
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