Attack Surface Management Tool

External Attack Surface Management (EASM) is a proactive cybersecurity approach focusing on discovering and categorizing external digital assets. It identifies vulnerabilities and continuously enables security teams to measure and manage associated risks. EASM platforms that match the Gartner definition like Orbit are exclusively cloud-hosted, ensuring the capabilities to continuously discover, scan, and monitor an organization’s internet-based digital landscape.

Real-time, complete asset lifecycle EASM platforms, such as Orbit, offer:

Asset Discovery:Identify unknown and unmanaged assets across your digital ecosystem.

Vulnerability Detection:Discover software-based vulnerabilities and potential entry points for malicious actors.

Threat Intelligence Integration:Advanced platforms integrate threat intelligence to provide enhanced situational awareness and risk prioritization.

Risk Prioritization:Use automated scoring to prioritize threats based on relevance and severity.

Visualization and Operationalization:Security teams can visualize their IT environment to proactively address exposures and develop tailored responses to potential cyber threats.

EASM platforms are crucial in scenarios involving:​

Cloud Adoption and Remote WorkforcesManaging assets in dynamic environmentsIoT and Third-Party Integrations

Addressing vulnerabilities introduced by connected devices and partners

Regulatory Compliance
Meeting governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) needs

Mergers and Acquisitions
Exposing inherited risks in M&A targetsStrategic Cyber Defense PlanningEASM platforms can provide insights for organizations mapping their defense programs to MITRE ATT&ACK frameworkPlatforms like Orbit enable security teams to continuously discover, map, and monitor attack surfaces, and identify at-risk assets, with the goal to mitigate vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.

EASM addresses challenges such as:Talent and Expertise Gaps:​
Providing enterprise-grade exposure management for organizations lacking in-house expertise.

Real-Time Threat Detection:
Supporting mature organizations with advanced detection and response needs.

Proactive Defense Shifts:
Enabling a move from reactive to proactive cybersecurity strategies.

Third-Party Risks:
Managing sophisticated threats from expanding third-party ecosystems.

Benefits include: In-Depth Visibility:A comprehensive view of external IT assets and digital landscapes.

Risk-Based Prioritization:Automated scoring and trusted threat data for continuous monitoring.

Enhanced Investigations:Contextual threat intelligence for focusing on critical risks.

Improved Workflows:Integration with security platforms for cohesive threat and vulnerability management.

Regulatory Compliance:Supporting GRC requirements and avoiding penalties.

Key use cases include

Asset Discovery and Mapping: Ensuring unmanaged assets don't go unnoticed.

Vulnerability Management:Prioritizing threats based on severity and relevance.

Incident Response and Management:Streamlining threat identification and accelerating response times.

Compliance and Risk Management:Supporting governance and exposing risks in M&A scenarios.

Third-Party risk monitoring:Enabling proactive visibility of supply chain and third-party risks to be discovered and alerted on.

Yes, organizations can measure ROI by evaluating.

​Risk Reduction:Assessing decreased vulnerabilities and prevented security incidents.
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Efficiency Improvements: Calculating operational cost savings from streamlined processes.

Incident Response Impact: Measuring reductions in Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR).

By tracking these metrics over time, organizations can quantify the value delivered by EASM platforms like Orbit.

External Attack Surface Management (EASM) differs from traditional digital asset management approaches like Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM) by focusing exclusively on an organization's external-facing assets as seen from an attacker's perspective. While CAASM provides a comprehensive inventory of all cyber assets—including internal systems and devices—by aggregating data from internal sources, EASM zeroes in on discovering, monitoring, and assessing assets that are exposed to the internet. This includes identifying unknown or unmanaged assets, shadow IT, and vulnerabilities that may not be visible through internal management tools, or omitted from asset inventories due to error, oversight or lack of process.

By adopting an outside-in approach, EASM enables organizations to understand and mitigate risks that external threat actors could exploit, offering a proactive and attacker-centric strategy that complements internal asset management practices.

Organizations need EASM because:
Dynamically Changing Threat Landscape:
Vulnerable digital assets are extensively used in cyber attacks and can manifest faster than IT can maintain pace with.

Rapid Digital Expansion:
Security teams struggle to keep pace with business growth that introduces hidden risks.

Proactive Risk Management:
EASM platforms allow security teams to efficiently discover digital assets, attribute ownership, and reveal risks before they are exploited.Best practice reduces risks.
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Frameworks such as NIST help to provide structure for external assets

Align With Regulatory Compliance:
Legal standards like EU GDPR & information security standards such as ISO 270001:2022 mandate compliance.

Key features include

Optimized Asset Management:
Continuous asset discovery, mapping, and monitoring.Detailed inventory of domains, IP addresses, cloud services, and other digital assets.
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Proactive Exposure Management:
Automated scans and scoring for real-time visibility. Rapid remediation of known assets and related vulnerabilities.

Enhanced Context:
Integration of threat intelligence from trusted sources like Team Cymru.

Contextual tags, analyst-sourced insights, and enriched detection capabilities.Automation:
API integrations for data sharing with existing tools.Unified view with adaptable, scalable, and automated workflows.

User Experience:
Intuitive dashboards with real-time metrics.Visual analytics and reporting tools for centralized administration and compliance.

Orbit operates by
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Autonomous and Continuous Asset Discovery and Mapping: Building a comprehensive inventory of all external-facing IT assets.

Autonomous and Continuous Scanning:Identifying vulnerabilities and exploitable security weaknesses.

Threat Intelligence Integration:Contextualizing findings to pinpoint the most significant threats.

Automated Risk Scoring:Prioritizing risks based on severity, impact, and relevance.

Real-Time Alerts and Reporting: Offering actionable insights and remediation recommendations.

Integration with Existing Platforms:Streamlining workflows through SIEM, SOAR, and ticketing system integrations.

When evaluating EASM tools, consider:​
Integration Capabilities:Compatibility with existing SIEM, SOAR, and cybersecurity solutions.

Threat Intelligence Quality: Providers offering trusted and reliable context-enriched intelligence.

Coverage and Accuracy: Efficacy in risk prioritization and automated workflows.

Scalability and Adaptability:Ability to align with broader exposure management strategies.

Orbit excels in these areas, making it a top choice for comprehensive EASM.

Integration enhancesUnified Visibility:
Combining ASM data with existing security events for a comprehensive view.

Threat Detection:
Uncovering previously undetected threats through enriched data.Workflow

Efficiency:
Automating ticket creation and tracking to improve vulnerability management.

Proactive Defense:
Stopping threats before they escalate into cyber attacks.