Attack surface management (ASM) software is a set of automated tools that monitor and manage external digital assets that contain, transmit, or process sensitive data. ASM software identifies misconfigurations and vulnerabilities that cybercriminals could exploit for malicious purposes that result in data breaches or other serious security incidents.

Cybercriminals exploit vulnerabilities and misconfigurations across an organization’s attack surface to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data. The prevalence of digital transformation and outsourcing in the current threat landscape means an organization’s attack vectors can easily increase by millions each day. This ever-growing number makes it hard to identify cyber threats and prioritize remediation before a data breach occurs.

Global cybersecurity is becoming more reliant on using advanced, more complex safety mechanisms to resolve vulnerabilities. Governments and businesses worldwide struggle to safeguard their data and networks and prevent future crises. At the same time, cyber threats are becoming just as complex. With each new step in cybersecurity innovation, cyber threats also gain momentum, eventually posing major security challenges for governments.

An impersonation attack is a type of targeted phishing attack where a malicious actor pretends to be someone else or other entities to steal sensitive data from unsuspecting employees using social engineering tactics. Hackers attempt to trick the victim into transferring money, giving up sensitive information, or providing business login credentials to leverage cyberattacks and gain unauthorized access to systems and networks.

Cyber innovation and digital transformation are moving at increasing speeds. With the shift to cloud-based software and assets, SaaS (software-as-a-service) applications, and the need for remote working, businesses are changing the way they approach risk management and the security of their digital assets.

In today’s fast-moving and competitive marketplace, you can barely find any businesses and merchants that still haven’t adopted the use of credit cards for their services. More than a third of American cardholders use credit cards for their transactions on a monthly basis. With the rising prevalence of identity theft, over 1.1 billion personal records were exposed by data breaches and credit card fraud alone.

The finance industry has the second highest average data breach costs at US$5.97 million per breach, according to IBM and Ponemon Institute’s 2022 Cost of a Data Breach report. While strict regulations force finance companies to invest heavily in protecting customer data, their third-party vendors don’t necessarily do the same. Finance security teams need a proactive approach to third-party risk management. Visibility into your vendor’s attack surface is critical.

Vulnerability remediation is the process of finding, addressing, and neutralizing security vulnerabilities within an organization’s IT environment, which can include computers, digital assets, networks, web applications, and mobile devices. Remediation is one of the most important steps in the vulnerability management process, which is critical for securing networks, preventing data loss, and enforcing business continuity.

Because information security has become increasingly important and businesses are heavily relying on worldwide connectivity, Cyber VRM solutions are necessary to protect against emerging cyber threats and secure data effectively. However, managing vendors, in addition to their cyber risks, can be a challenging and time-consuming effort that requires more efficient solutions.

Using best practices for cyber vendor risk management (Cyber VRM), organizations can identify, assess, and remediate their third-party vendor risks specifically related to cybersecurity. Organizations can utilize information attained from security ratings, data leak detection, and security questionnaires to evaluate their third-party security postures using dedicated Cyber VRM solutions.

According to a 2021 study by UpGuard, over 51% of analyzed Fortune 500 companies were unknowingly leaking sensitive metadata in public documents - data leaks that could be very useful in a reconnaissance campaign preceding a major data breach. Without timely detection solutions, all corporate (and personal) accounts impacted by data leaks are at a critical risk of compromise, which also places any associated private internal networks at a high risk of unauthorized access and sensitive data theft.

IT risk management and cybersecurity are two essential practices that define the effectiveness and security structure of modern organizations. IT risk management is the process of managing and mitigating risks via careful planning, specialized systems, guidelines, policies, and decisions across various sectors, not just cybersecurity. With IT risk management, the IT staff is focused entirely on IT risk mitigation.