Dynamic Attack Surface Reduction (DASR) is an advanced cybersecurity strategy that continuously and automatically narrows the window of opportunity for attackers by dynamically adjusting an environment's exposure. Unlike static asset management, DASR automates the identification and closure of security gaps in real time, ensuring an organization's digital footprint is as small as possible at any given moment.

ThreatNG serves as a foundational platform for DASR by performing unauthenticated, "outside-in" discovery and assessment that mirrors the reconnaissance of an actual adversary. By identifying "Attack Path Choke Points," ThreatNG allows organizations to use targeted remediation to disrupt potential breach narratives before they reach a crisis state.

The DASR Strategic Framework: ThreatNG Capabilities

ThreatNG facilitates DASR through a continuous cycle of discovery, assessment, and investigation, providing the "Contextual Certainty" needed to eliminate alert fatigue.

1. External Discovery: Uncovering the Invisible Surface

ThreatNG performs purely external, unauthenticated discovery without requiring internal connectors or agents. This is critical for DASR as it identifies assets that internal security tools often miss.

• Shadow IT Identification: Automatically discovers associated subdomains, IP addresses, and cloud resources.

• Ephemeral Asset Detection: Continuously monitors the digital landscape for short-lived cloud workloads and "Shadow AI" endpoints.

• Mobile App Footprint: Identifies an organization’s mobile apps in public marketplaces to evaluate credential leakage and platform-specific identifiers.

2. External Assessment: Prioritizing Risk through Detailed Ratings

ThreatNG assesses discovered assets across multiple security dimensions, assigning A-F ratings based on the likelihood of exploitation.

• Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility: Uses DNS enumeration to find CNAME records pointing to third-party services. It cross-references hostnames against an extensive Vendor List—covering Cloud (AWS, Azure), DevOps (GitHub, Bitbucket), and Marketing platforms (HubSpot)—to perform a validation check for "dangling DNS".

• Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: Analyzes subdomains for the presence of key security headers (Content-Security-Policy, HSTS, X-Frame-Options) and identifies the use of deprecated headers.

• BEC & Phishing Susceptibility: Evaluates domain permutations (both available and taken), mail record analysis (missing SPF/DMARC), and compromised credentials on the dark web.

• Non-Human Identity (NHI) Exposure: Quantifies vulnerability to threats posed by high-privilege machine identities, such as leaked API keys and service accounts, found in public code repositories.

3. Continuous Monitoring & Reporting: Real-Time Vigilance

DASR requires constant monitoring to detect configuration drift and new exposures.

• Continuous Vigilance: Real-time monitoring of the external attack surface ensures that new vulnerabilities are identified the moment they appear.

• Prioritized Reporting: Technical and technical reports categorize risks from High to Informational, providing a precise operational mandate for remediation.

• MITRE ATT&CK Mapping: Automatically translates raw findings (like open ports or leaked secrets) into a strategic narrative of adversary behavior.

4. Investigation Modules: Deep Technical Intelligence

ThreatNG includes specialized modules to provide granular technical insights into specific attack vectors.

• Sensitive Code Exposure: Scans public repositories for leaked Access Credentials, including AWS Access Keys, private SSH keys, and configuration files (e.g., Terraform configs, environment files).

• Subdomain Intelligence: Identifies exposed ports and categorizes them into groups like IoT/OT (VoIP services, networked cameras), Databases (MongoDB, SQL Server), and Remote Access Services (SSH, RDP).

• Social Media Discovery: Maps the "Human Attack Surface" by identifying employees susceptible to social engineering on LinkedIn and monitoring "Narrative Risk" on Reddit to manage threats before they escalate.

5. Intelligence Repositories (DarCache)

The platform maintains continuously updated repositories that feed its assessment engine.

• Vulnerability Cache (KEV/EPSS): Integrates data from the NVD, confirms active exploitation via CISA’s KEV, and predicts future exploitation likelihood using EPSS.

• Dark Web & Leaks: Repositories like DarCache Rupture house compromised credentials and mentions of organizational entities found on underground forums.

• Ransomware Activity: Tracks nearly 100 ransomware gangs (e.g., LockBit, Akira, Black Basta) to correlate their activity with an organization's specific technical exposures.

Cooperation with Complementary Solutions

ThreatNG serves as an "Outside-In" intelligence layer, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of complementary security solutions through proactive collaboration.

• Vulnerability Management (VM): ThreatNG identifies the assets and "Shadow IT" that internal scanners miss, while complementary VM solutions handle the internal patching and remediation. This ensures that every piece of an organization's digital "roof" is identified before it is patched.

• SIEM and XDR Platforms: Complementary SIEM solutions ingest ThreatNG’s high-fidelity, "Legal-Grade" alerts regarding new external exposures. This allows security teams to correlate external "pre-breach" indicators—like a new domain permutation registered for a phishing attack—with internal network logs to block threats at the perimeter.

• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): ThreatNG identifies subdomains and assets that lack proper endpoint security. By using this data in a complementary EDR management console, organizations can ensure defensive agents are deployed to every externally visible asset, closing critical coverage gaps.

• Web Application Firewalls (WAF): ThreatNG pinpoints subdomains that lack a WAF or have misconfigured rules. Security teams then use these insights to adjust policies in their complementary WAF solution, ensuring that every newly discovered application is immediately protected.

• Identity and Access Management (IAM): When ThreatNG discovers Non-Human Identity (NHI) exposure, such as a leaked API key in a public repository, it triggers an alert for complementary IAM tools to rotate credentials and revoke unauthorized access immediately.