Blind Spots
In the context of cybersecurity, blind spots refer to areas within an organization's IT infrastructure, network, or operations that are unknown, unmonitored, or unmanaged by security teams. These are segments or aspects of the digital landscape that lack proper visibility, leaving them vulnerable to attack without the organization's knowledge.
Blind spots can exist for various reasons:
Lack of Discovery: Security teams may not be aware of certain assets, applications, or network segments. This often happens in large, complex organizations where systems are added or modified without proper inventorying or documentation.
Shadow IT: This is a common source of blind spots, where employees or departments deploy and use unauthorized hardware, software, or cloud services outside the IT department's control. These systems are typically not subject to security policies, patches, or monitoring.
Outdated Asset Inventories: If an organization's records of its assets are not regularly updated, decommissioned systems may still appear in records, while new ones go unnoticed, leading to a skewed understanding of the actual attack surface.
Incomplete Monitoring: Even if assets are known, they might not be fully monitored. This could be due to:
Agent Gaps: Security agents (e.g., endpoint detection and response, vulnerability scanners) might not be installed or functioning correctly on all devices.
Log Gaps: Not all relevant logs are collected, analyzed, or stored, meaning critical security events might go undetected.
Network Segments: Certain parts of the network, such as older or isolated segments, may not be integrated into modern monitoring solutions.
Cloud and SaaS Misconfigurations: The rapid adoption of cloud services and SaaS applications can lead to blind spots if configurations are not properly secured or if default settings expose data or access without the security team's awareness. Shared responsibility models in the cloud can also create confusion about who is responsible for securing certain aspects.
Third-Party and Supply Chain Risks: Organizations often have limited visibility into the security posture of their third-party vendors and supply chain partners. A vulnerability in a partner's system that interacts with an organization's data can become a significant blind spot.
Acquisitions and Mergers: When companies merge or acquire new entities, integrating diverse IT environments can be challenging, often leading to unmanaged or overlooked systems from the acquired company becoming blind spots.
Forgotten or Abandoned Assets: Old test environments, deprecated applications, or unpatched legacy systems that are still online but no longer actively used can become ideal targets for attackers due to their unmonitored and unmaintained state.
Consequences of Blind Spots:
The existence of blind spots poses significant cybersecurity risks:
Increased Attack Surface: Unknown assets, which are unpatched, unmonitored, and unmanaged, make them easy targets for attackers.
Undetected Breaches: An attacker exploiting a blind spot can gain access and operate within a network for extended periods without detection, leading to prolonged data breaches or system compromise.
Compliance Violations: Blind spots can lead to non-compliance with regulatory requirements that mandate comprehensive asset inventories and continuous monitoring.
Ineffective Security Investments: Resources may be allocated to secure known assets, while unknown, vulnerable ones remain exposed, resulting in inefficient security spending.
Reduced Incident Response Capability: If a breach occurs in a blind spot, the security team will lack the necessary information to identify the extent of the compromise quickly, contain the threat, or recover effectively.
To mitigate blind spots, organizations must implement robust asset discovery, continuous monitoring, thorough vulnerability assessments, and effective governance over cloud and third-party relationships.
ThreatNG is an all-in-one solution designed to provide "Total External Visibility. Zero Blind Spots." It achieves this by understanding and managing "Your True External Attack Surface" and gaining "The Attacker's View of Your Attack Surface". Its unique "no connectors" approach is a key differentiator, as it directly addresses the inherent blind spots of internal-only or connector-dependent solutions.
Here's a detailed explanation of how ThreatNG helps eliminate blind spots:
ThreatNG's ability to perform purely external, unauthenticated discovery is central to its promise of "Total External Visibility. Zero Blind Spots.". Unlike solutions that rely on internal connectors, ThreatNG maps out an organization's digital footprint from the outside in, precisely as an attacker would perceive it. This means it proactively uncovers unknown or forgotten assets and shadow IT. For example, if an employee deploys an unsanctioned cloud instance or a forgotten test server is left exposed to the internet, ThreatNG's external discovery would identify these assets, which internal, connector-dependent tools might miss due to their limited scope within the organization's known network. This unauthenticated approach directly addresses the blind spots caused by a lack of discovery or outdated asset inventories.
ThreatNG provides comprehensive external assessment ratings, giving organizations a detailed understanding of their vulnerabilities from an attacker's perspective, thereby reducing blind spots associated with unmonitored exposures. This includes:
Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: This score is substantiated by analyzing the parts of a web application accessible from the outside world to identify potential entry points for attackers. ThreatNG would, for instance, identify an exposed administrative panel or a web server with insecure default configurations that an attacker could use for hijacking, which might be a blind spot if not externally visible and assessed.
Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility: ThreatNG uses external attack surface and digital risk intelligence, incorporating Domain Intelligence, to evaluate this susceptibility. This includes a comprehensive analysis of the website's subdomains, DNS records, and SSL certificate statuses. It can uncover subdomains whose DNS records point to services that have been decommissioned or are no longer owned, creating a blind spot ripe for takeover by attackers.
BEC & Phishing Susceptibility: Derived from Sentiment and Financials Findings, Domain Intelligence (Domain Name Permutations and Web3 Domains, and Email Intelligence), and Dark Web Presence (Compromised Credentials). ThreatNG's external view helps reveal blind spots such as look-alike domains registered by attackers for phishing, or compromised employee credentials appearing on the dark web, which might not be visible through internal monitoring.
Data Leak Susceptibility: Derived from external attack surface and digital risk intelligence based on Cloud and SaaS Exposure, Dark Web Presence (Compromised Credentials), Domain Intelligence, and Sentiment and Financials. An example would be ThreatNG identifying exposed cloud storage buckets with sensitive data, which could be a significant blind spot if cloud configurations are not continuously monitored externally.
Cyber Risk Exposure: Considers Domain Intelligence module parameters, including certificates, subdomain headers, vulnerabilities, and sensitive ports. This helps uncover blind spots, such as publicly accessible sensitive ports (e.g., RDP, SSH) or unpatched vulnerabilities that an attacker could easily discover from the outside. Code Secret Exposure is also factored in, which involves identifying code repositories and their associated exposure levels, as well as examining the contents for sensitive data. This means ThreatNG can identify API keys or database credentials that are accidentally committed to public code repositories, which are often overlooked blind spots. Cloud and SaaS Exposure evaluates cloud services and SaaS solutions, considering compromised credentials on the dark web to eliminate blind spots related to misconfigured cloud environments or leaked credentials.
Mobile App Exposure: Evaluates how exposed an organization’s mobile apps are through their discovery in marketplaces and for the presence of various access credentials, security credentials, and platform-specific identifiers within their contents. This helps eliminate blind spots stemming from hardcoded credentials or sensitive information embedded directly within publicly available mobile applications.
ThreatNG identifies and highlights an organization's security strengths, detecting the presence of beneficial security controls and configurations, such as Web Application Firewalls or multi-factor authentication. It validates these positive measures from the perspective of an external attacker, providing objective evidence of their effectiveness. This provides a more balanced and comprehensive view of an organization's security posture, explaining the specific security benefits of these positive measures. By externally validating these controls, ThreatNG helps confirm that perceived protections are indeed adequate against external threats, reducing the blind spot of false confidence.
ThreatNG provides various types of reports, including Executive, Technical, Prioritized (High, Medium, Low, and Informational), Security Ratings, Inventory, Ransomware Susceptibility, and U.S. SEC Filings reports. The embedded Knowledgebase within reports provides risk levels, reasoning, recommendations, and reference links. These reports enable organizations to gain clarity on their external security posture and address identified risks, effectively illuminating previously unseen vulnerabilities and eliminating blind spots.
ThreatNG provides continuous monitoring of an organization's external attack surface, digital risk, and security ratings. This ensures that as an organization's digital footprint changes or new vulnerabilities emerge, ThreatNG can detect and report on them in real-time, preventing the emergence of new blind spots and maintaining "Total External Visibility. Zero Blind Spots."
ThreatNG's investigation modules enable deep dives into discovered information, revealing intricate details of an organization's external footprint and eliminating blind spots:
Domain Intelligence: Provides detailed insights into an organization's digital presence, including Microsoft Entra Identification and Domain Enumeration, Bug Bounty Programs, and related SwaggerHub instances.
DNS Intelligence: Includes Domain Record Analysis (IP Identification, Vendors and Technology Identification), Domain Name Permutations (Taken and Available), and Web3 Domains (Taken and Available). This helps uncover unknown subdomains or forgotten DNS records that might point to vulnerable services.
Subdomain Intelligence: Covers HTTP Responses, Header Analysis, Server Headers, various Cloud Hosting providers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Heroku, Pantheon, Vercel), Website Builders, E-commerce Platforms, Content Management Systems, and other technologies. It also identifies Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility, Content Identification (e.g., Admin Pages, APIs, Development Environments, VPNs, Empty HTTP/HTTPS Responses, HTTP/HTTPS Errors, Applications, Google Tag Managers, Javascript, Emails, Phone Numbers), and Ports (including IoT / OT, Industrial Control Systems, Databases, and Remote Access Services). For instance, ThreatNG could identify an exposed development environment on a subdomain or a publicly accessible database port, which are common blind spots.
Sensitive Code Exposure: Discovers public code repositories and uncovers digital risks including exposed Access Credentials (e.g., API Keys, Access Tokens, Generic Credentials) , Cloud Credentials (e.g., AWS Access Key ID, AWS Secret Access Key) , Security Credentials (e.g., Cryptographic Keys, Private SSH key), Configuration Files (e.g., Application Configuration, System Configuration, Network Configuration), Database Exposures (e.g., Database Files, Database Credentials), Application Data Exposures (e.g., Remote Access, Encryption Keys, Java Keystores), Activity Records (e.g., Command History, Logs, Network Traffic), Communication Platform Configurations, Development Environment Configurations, Security Testing Tools, Cloud Service Configurations, Remote Access Credentials, System Utilities, Personal Data, and User Activity. This capability is critical for eliminating blind spots where developers may have inadvertently exposed sensitive information in publicly accessible code.
Mobile Application Discovery: Discovers mobile apps related to the organization within marketplaces and analyzes their contents for access credentials, security credentials, and platform-specific identifiers. This directly addresses the blind spot of exposed sensitive information within mobile applications.
Search Engine Exploitation: Helps users investigate an organization’s susceptibility to exposing various elements (Errors, General Advisories, IoT Entities, Persistent Exploitation, Potential Sensitive Information, Privileged Folders, Public Passwords, Susceptible Files, Susceptible Servers, User Data, and Web Servers) via search engines. This uncovers information that may be inadvertently indexed by search engines, creating blind spots that attackers can easily find.
Cloud and SaaS Exposure: Identifies Sanctioned Cloud Services, Unsanctioned Cloud Services, Cloud Service Impersonations, and Open Exposed Cloud Buckets of AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. It also identifies all associated SaaS implementations. This is crucial for eliminating blind spots related to misconfigured cloud resources and unauthorized SaaS use (shadow IT).
Online Sharing Exposure: Detects the Presence of Organizational Entities within online code-sharing platforms, including Pastebin, GitHub Gist, Scribd, Slideshare, and Prezi. This helps uncover sensitive data shared on public platforms, which are often overlooked blind spots.
Archived Web Pages: Identifies archived versions of various files, directories, subdomains, user names, and admin pages on the organization’s online presence. This can reveal forgotten or historical exposures that attackers might still use, eliminating a significant blind spot.
Intelligence Repositories (DarCache)
ThreatNG maintains continuously updated intelligence repositories, branded as DarCache, which are crucial for "Total External Visibility. Zero Blind Spots.":
Dark Web (DarCache Dark Web): Provides insights into compromised credentials, ransomware groups, and related activities. This intelligence helps identify instances where an organization's data or employee credentials have been leaked, addressing a critical blind spot for many organizations.
Vulnerabilities (DarCache Vulnerability): Provides a holistic and proactive approach to managing external risks and vulnerabilities. It includes NVD data (Attack Complexity, Attack Interaction, Attack Vector, Impact scores, CVSS Score, and Severity), EPSS data (probabilistic estimate of vulnerability exploitation likelihood), and KEV data (vulnerabilities actively exploited in the wild). It also provides Verified Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Exploits. By consolidating this vulnerability intelligence, ThreatNG enables organizations to understand and prioritize external threats, thereby eliminating blind spots related to unknown or unprioritized vulnerabilities.
Synergy with Complementary Solutions
ThreatNG's "Total External Visibility. Zero Blind Spots." approach is highly complementary to other cybersecurity solutions:
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) Systems: ThreatNG's external discovery and assessment data can seamlessly integrate with SIEM/SOAR platforms. For instance, if ThreatNG identifies a newly exposed database on an unusual port that was previously a blind spot, a SOAR system could automatically create an incident ticket, trigger an alert to the security operations center, and initiate a vulnerability scan of the discovered asset.
Vulnerability Management (VM) Solutions: ThreatNG's identification of external vulnerabilities, especially those that are actively exploited (KEV), can directly enrich VM solutions. This allows security teams to prioritize patching efforts on external-facing assets that ThreatNG has identified, closing critical blind spots that internal-only scanners may not detect.
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs): ThreatNG's DarCache, with its comprehensive data on compromised credentials, ransomware activity, and known exploited vulnerabilities, can augment existing TIPs. This allows organizations to correlate ThreatNG's external threat data with other internal and external intelligence sources, providing a more complete picture of their threat landscape and reducing blind spots in threat awareness.
Identity and Access Management (IAM) Solutions: ThreatNG's findings on compromised credentials from the Dark Web (DarCache Rupture) can trigger immediate actions within IAM systems. If an employee's credentials are found, the IAM system can automatically force a password reset or require multi-factor authentication, directly mitigating a significant external blind spot related to credential compromise.
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) and Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP): ThreatNG's Cloud and SaaS Exposure module offers an external perspective on misconfigurations and exposed services in cloud environments. This external view complements CSPM tools that continuously monitor internal cloud configurations, ensuring that potential external attack vectors (blind spots) in the cloud are identified and addressed. For example, if ThreatNG identifies an open S3 bucket, a CSPM tool can then provide remediation guidance and continuous monitoring for that specific cloud resource.
Digital Risk Protection (DRP) Platforms: As an all-in-one solution for external attack surface management, digital risk protection, and security ratings, ThreatNG can complement existing DRP tools by providing deeper insights into specific external threats. Its granular intelligence on mobile app exposure, brand damage susceptibility, and unique data sources (such as archived web pages and sensitive code exposure) fills gaps that other DRP solutions might not cover as comprehensively.
Attack Surface Management (ASM) platforms: ThreatNG's external-only, unauthenticated discovery makes it a powerful complement to other ASM tools that might rely on some level of internal access or limited external scanning. It ensures "Total External Visibility. Zero Blind Spots." by constantly providing an attacker's view of the continually evolving external attack surface.
