How to manage your cyber risk in a modern attack surface

According to research, 62% of organizations said their attack surface grew over the past year. It’s no coincidence that 76% of organizations also reported a cyberattack due to an exposed asset in 2024, as expanding digital footprints often outpace security measures, leaving vulnerabilities unnoticed and unaddressed.

So how exactly can organizations keep up and stay secure in this evolving landscape? In this article, we’ll cover some major attack surface risks to be aware of, and explain how tools like External Attack Surface Management (EASM) and Digital Risk Protection (DRP) can provide security teams the insight they need to stay ahead of threats.

The evolution of the modern attack surface

As organizations accelerate their digital transformation efforts, their external digital footprints are expanding faster — and becoming more fragmented — than ever before. From rapid cloud adoption and remote work to continuous application deployment and third-party integrations, today’s IT ecosystems are largely decentralized and constantly evolving.

While this digital expansion drives agility and innovation, it also introduced a growing set of blind spots in an organizations attack surface. IT teams are often unable to keep track of every asset they have exposed to the internet, with unknown subdomains, unsecured APIs, forgotten development or deployment environments and abandoned cloud resources all becoming easy entry points for threat actors to strike. The growth of open-source components, SaaS platforms, and ephemeral infrastructure make matters worse, all but eliminating the traditional network perimeter.

Because of this rapid growth of the attack surface, it’s becoming more and more difficult for security teams to maintain visibility and respond to emerging threats. Meanwhile, threat actors are growing more opportunistic, actively scanning for weaknesses and striking faster than traditional monitoring systems can detect.

Attack surface risks to watch out for

As your attack surface grows, so do potential threats. Let’s take a look at some of the most prevalent attack surface risks that can arise from overlooked digital assets.

• Unmanaged or forgotten assets: Unmanaged or forgotten assets are the perfect entry point for cybercriminals to gain unauthorized access to your systems. These include shadow IT, forgotten cloud infrastructure, and expired domains. Without proper discovery and remediation, threat actors can exploit these gaps, leading to breaches and lateral movement within internal networks.

Figure 1: Do you know all the assets connected to your company and how they are connected to each other?

• Brand impersonation: Brand impersonation has emerged as a significant cyber risk, with threat actors exploiting trusted corporate identities to deceive unsuspecting clients and employees alike. Using tactics such as look-alike websites and typo-squatted domains, attackers mimic legitimate organizations to launch phishing campaigns, steal sensitive information, or damage brand reputation. These increasingly sophisticated impersonation efforts undermine trust and pose a growing threat to corporations.

Figure 2: Which domains should be managed by you and which could be potential phishing or domain-squatting attempts?

• Data leakage and credential exposure: Leaked data frequently circulates in dark web marketplaces, with cybercriminals waiting to exploit it. Additionally, using leaked or stolen credentials, criminals can gain unauthorized access to accounts and move undetected within an organization’s network.
• Vulnerability exploitation in internet-facing systems: Internet-facing systems are prime targets for attackers seeking to exploit known vulnerabilities and unpatched software. These weaknesses enable data exfiltration, operational disruption, and ransomware deployment.

How External Attack Surface Management and Digital Risk Protection can help

With such rapid expansion of the threat landscape, along with exponential growth in the attack surface, it’s vital that organizations take a proactive, comprehensive approach to securing their external assets. Fortunately, there are tools specifically designed to aid with this — including External Attack Surface Management (EASM) and Digital Risk Protection (DRP). By combining the strengths of both EASM and DRP, IT teams can identify, map and prioritize cyber risks from unknown exposures.

The role of EASM in managing cyber risk

EASM tools are invaluable when it comes to identifying and mitigating threats. They continuously scan the internet to identify both known and unknown assets, including traditional web domains and shadow IT resources, allowing IT teams to inventory and classify every external asset associated with their digital footprint.

This comprehensive discovery process builds a dynamic inventory that undergoes risk scoring based on exposure levels and vulnerability assessments. By mapping all external-facing assets, EASM delivers a precise digital blueprint that highlights critical systems, giving security teams clear insight into which assets are most vulnerable and likely to be targeted by attackers.

The role of DRP in managing cyber risk

While EASM identifies all an organization’s internet-facing assets, DRP goes a step further by monitoring multiple external channels (including the public web, dark web, and social media) to detect indicators of threat activity. This covers activities such as brand impersonation, phishing campaigns, abuse of corporate identities, data leaks, and more.

Figure 3: A dark web mention that requires further investigation

DRP tools use threat intelligence sources to constantly monitor how threat actors interact with exposed assets or imitate a company’s digital presence, helping security teams identify and respond to potential breaches or unauthorized data exposures early.

Combining EASM and DRP for a comprehensive approach to risk management

EASM and DRP alone are powerful tools to take control of your attack surface and reduce risks. But combined, they can offer even more powerful protection for your organization’s digital infrastructure.

One key area of overlap between EASM and DRP is asset-centric threat correlation, whereby assets identified by EASM are continuously monitored by DRP for signs of exploitation. With this combined intelligence, organizations can not only gain visibility of what is exposed, but also understand how threat actors are targeting these vulnerabilities.

Shared intelligence also allows security teams to prioritize remediation based on both exposure risk and active threat levels, meaning resources are focused on the most urgent and impactful threats. This collaboration enhances overall security posture by enabling faster detection and mitigation of potential attacks before they escalate.

CompassDRP by Outpost24: EASM and DPR combined

CompassDRP by Outpost24 combines robust External Attack Surface Management with Cyber Threat Intelligence to provide advanced Digital Risk Protection capabilities, offering a comprehensive overview of external threats facing your organization. From reducing attack surface blind spots to protecting your brand’s reputation, this unified approach gives you the tools to defend against today’s evolving attack surface.

Want to take control of your digital exposure? Discover how Outpost24 CompassDRP can assist you in detecting cyber risk in time!