April 11, 2022 / by Adam Murray / In security
Emerging technology in cybersecurity: What you need to know about Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM)
So much has been discussed on how COVID-19 accelerated digital transformation at breakneck speed. However, less has been said about how this acceleration increased scrutiny from threat actors. As a result, they’re ready to exploit weaknesses and opportunities in hastily imposed systems.
Businesses increased customer-facing services to cope with the pandemic lockdowns. With such changes, there was a need to double down on cybersecurity. In this case, businesses needed to operate in a razor-thin line in availing their services to customers and remote employees. To respond to this pressure, companies had to incorporate secure network control systems, which spurred a new focus area: Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM).
So, what is Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management?
As highlighted above, Cloud-first, API-first, and digital transformation expanded cyber assets in organizations. However, this expansion has made it difficult for IT teams to understand a cyber breach’s full scope and impact.
An emerging technology, CAASM, gives IT teams persistent asset visibility, helping to reduce vulnerability to cyberattacks. This technology elevates the existing data into a unified view of the entire cyber asset universe.
Already, CAASM technology is offering considerable benefits to IT teams:
- Gaining complete visibility of internal and external assets through integration of APIs with existing tools
- Conducting a comprehensive analysis of consolidated data
- Identifying vulnerabilities and gaps in IT systems
- Enhancing the incident response and remediating existing issues
Why businesses need CAASM
Businesses continue to suffer extreme cyber challenges. Therefore, any emerging technology that can eliminate this issue is critical. Companies implementing CAASM are already accessing various benefits
- Improved cyber asset hygiene
- Centralized view of cyber assets
- Quick detection and response to cyber threats
- Monitoring assets through automated systems
What are the drivers for CAASM adoption?
Complete Visibility of Digital Assets
This is the first time that organizations have access to full visibility of digital assets. This has led to better security coverage of such assets that have always been vulnerable. Today, businesses can recognize security gaps in their digital systems and fix them immediately.
Quick Audit Compliance
CAASM technology is reducing all the laborious and manual retrieval systems. It has unified all the assets within the organization. In this case, no one has to keep looking for information during audits. As a result, the time and effort it takes to complete such tasks have been reduced.
Consolidating Assets into a Single View
CAASM has been a game-changer in consolidating all assets into a single and normalized view. Everyone in the organization, including stakeholders, has access to this view. As such, everyone has a role in the system’s security.
CAASM Experiences Less Resistance
Through this technology, businesses can now welcome shadow and third-party IT systems. It is essential to point out that this technology has low resistance, especially compared to other solutions. Therefore, it is a vital technology that could bring back control to IT.
What are the Obstacles Facing CAASM Adoption?
As trends indicate, CAASM is on the rise. Organizations have already realized that this emerging technology is elevating their cybersecurity strategies. However, this doesn’t mean that everything is smooth sailing. There exist some obstacles that hinder its full market adoption.
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Resistance to more tools
Organizations already have some existing tools that offer asset visibility. Therefore, CAASM is another unnecessary expenditure. In this case, it is hard for organizations to justify the time and resources allocated to “yet another tool.” -
Cost challenges to large entities
The number of cyber assets varies from one organization to the other. Larger entities have many assets, which is costly if products are licensed under “assets consumed.” However, there’s an expectation that cost-effective solutions that consider several assets will be produced as the field matures. -
Scalability challenges
CAASM is a new technology in cyber security. As such, companies have problems finding tools that integrate with it. Furthermore, with scalability an essential aspect of proper optimization of resources, businesses might see this technology as unnecessary. -
Challenges in aggregating data
There’s no doubt that Cybersecurity Asset Attack Surface Management offers considerable benefits to organizations. However, there exist some significant issues in aggregating data. Businesses have to collect and aggregate data from every cyber asset. Aggregating data is challenging for companies with hundreds of cyber assets.
How to work through Cybersecurity Asset Attack Surface Management
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Businesses have to determine their objectives when investing in CAASM. For example, a company can prioritize cyber asset visibility. Other organizations could focus on technology’s automation ability. These clear objectives can ease the burden of adoption.
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Companies should ensure they inventory APIs to help their CAASM provider access each. This means that businesses should invest in all the necessary accounts and access points to alleviate possible delays and frustrations in adopting new technologies.
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Businesses have a role in expanding CAASM integration to other companies. For example, it is essential to ask whether vendors have future CAASM integration plans. This will help in providing the necessary capabilities and roadmaps to such companies.
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Besides expanding user usage to contracted vendors, companies’ responsibility is to broaden CAASM beyond IT teams. Anyone within and involved in system management and compliance is essential in full adoption. This technology is not supposed to operate within the narrow confines of the IT department. Everyone within the organization needs to have visibility of cyber assets.
Do you need CAASM in your business?
Cyber threats are evolving and gaining momentum. As trends show, these threats will continue to grow and get complicated. This will pose an imminent threat to almost every other organization.
Implementing Cybersecurity Asset Attack Surface Management will take your cybersecurity detection and response to another level.
If you are interested in CAASM adoption, contact us today for more information.