Security Rating Drilldown
Security Rating Drilldown is the in-depth analysis and investigation of the factors contributing to a security rating assigned to an organization or its assets. Security ratings provide a high-level overview of an entity's security posture. Still, a drilldown allows users to go beyond the summary score and understand the specific issues driving that rating.
Here's a breakdown of what a security rating drilldown typically involves:
Initial Security Rating: A security rating is usually a quantitative measure (e.g., a score from 0 to 100, or a letter grade) that reflects an organization's security posture. It is often calculated based on various factors and data points.
Factor Identification: The drilldown involves identifying the factors influencing the security rating. These factors can vary but often include:
Vulnerabilities in systems and applications
Security misconfigurations
Presence of malware
Network security practices
Application security
Data security
Email security
DNS security
Adherence to security best practices
Evidence Review: The drilldown includes reviewing the evidence or data supporting each factor's assessment. This might involve:
Examining vulnerability scan results
Analyzing network traffic data
Inspecting security configurations
Reviewing security logs
Impact Analysis: The drilldown may also involve analyzing the potential impact of the identified security issues on the overall security rating and the organization's risk profile.
Remediation Guidance: Ideally, a security rating drilldown provides guidance and recommendations on how to remediate the identified security issues and improve the security rating.
In essence, Security Rating Drilldown enables organizations to move from a general overview of their security posture to a detailed understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, facilitating targeted security improvements.
Here’s how ThreatNG facilitates Security Rating Drilldown:
ThreatNG's external discovery is the first step in providing the data needed for a Security Rating Drilldown.
ThreatNG's ability to "perform purely external unauthenticated discovery using no connectors" allows it to map all external-facing assets. This comprehensive view is essential for an accurate security rating because it identifies all potential areas of vulnerability.
Example: ThreatNG discovers all subdomains, cloud services, and exposed systems, providing a complete inventory of the attack surface that contributes to the overall security rating.
Complementary Solutions:
Asset Management Tools: These tools can complement ThreatNG by providing internal asset data, which, when combined with ThreatNG's external view, gives a more rounded context for security ratings.
Configuration Management Databases (CMDBs): Integrating with CMDBs can enrich the security rating drilldown by providing information about the configuration of the discovered assets.
ThreatNG's external assessment capabilities are core to providing the detailed information required for a Security Rating Drilldown.
ThreatNG provides various assessment ratings that contribute to an overall security posture evaluation:
Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: This rating and its underlying data help us understand the risk web applications pose.
Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility: This helps assess risks related to subdomain control.
Code Secret Exposure: This assessment identifies exposed code repositories and secrets, a critical factor in security ratings.
Cloud and SaaS Exposure: This evaluates the security of cloud and SaaS usage.
Examples:
For "Web Application Hijack Susceptibility," ThreatNG analyzes externally accessible parts of web applications to identify potential entry points for attackers. This detailed analysis allows a deeper examination of the specific weaknesses of web applications that affect their security rating.
The "Code Secret Exposure" assessment discovers exposed code repositories and investigates their contents for sensitive data. This enables a deeper examination of the specific exposed secrets and their potential impact.
Complementary Solutions:
Vulnerability Scanners: These tools can provide more granular vulnerability data on specific systems, complementing ThreatNG's broader external assessment and enabling a deeper drilldown.
Penetration Testing Tools: Penetration testing results can validate ThreatNG's assessment findings and provide real-world context for the security rating drilldown.
3. Reporting
ThreatNG's reporting capabilities are crucial for presenting the security rating and enabling the drilldown.
ThreatNG provides various reporting formats, including security ratings reports. These reports present the overall security rating and, more importantly, the underlying data and factors that contribute to it.
Example: ThreatNG's reports provide "Reasoning to provide context and insights into the identified to help organizations better understand their security posture." This reasoning is essential for a security rating drill-down, explaining why the rating is what it is.
Complementary Solutions:
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Systems: SIEM systems can correlate ThreatNG's security rating data with internal security events, providing a more comprehensive view and enhancing the drilldown process.
GRC Platforms: GRC platforms can use ThreatNG's security rating data to assess compliance and risk, providing a broader context for the drilldown.
ThreatNG's continuous monitoring ensures that security ratings and the data for drilldowns are kept up-to-date.
ThreatNG provides "Continuous Monitoring of external attack surface, digital risk, and security ratings of all organizations". This is critical because the factors that influence security ratings are constantly changing.
Example: ThreatNG's continuous monitoring detects new vulnerabilities, changes in configurations, or the emergence of new assets, all of which can affect the security rating and require a drilldown to understand the impact.
Complementary Solutions:
Change Management Systems: Integrating with change management systems can help correlate changes in security ratings with planned IT changes, providing valuable context for the drilldown.
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs): TIPs can provide real-time threat intelligence that can be incorporated into security ratings and drilldowns, providing a more dynamic and threat-informed view.
ThreatNG's investigation modules are essential for conducting a detailed Security Rating Drilldown.
These modules provide the detailed data and analysis capabilities needed to understand the factors influencing the security rating:
Domain Intelligence: Provides detailed information about domains, subdomains, and DNS, which are critical for assessing domain-related security risks.
Sensitive Code Exposure: This module allows investigation into exposed code repositories and secrets, providing specifics on code-related risks.
Mobile Application Discovery: This module enables the investigation of mobile app security, another factor in overall security ratings.
Examples:
The "Domain Intelligence" module allows for a drilldown into specific domain-related issues, such as insecure DNS configurations or vulnerable subdomains, that are affecting the security rating. For example, it includes Domain Overview (Digital Presence Word Cloud, Microsoft Entra Identification and Domain Enumeration, Bug Bounty Programs, and related SwaggerHub instances, which include API documentation and specifications, enabling users to understand and potentially test the API's functionality and structure) and DNS Intelligence (Domain Record Analysis (IP Identification, Vendors and Technology Identification), Domain Name Permutations (Taken and Available), and Web3 Domains (Taken and Available).
The "Sensitive Code Exposure" module enables a detailed examination of exposed credentials or secrets, their location, and potential impact.
Complementary Solutions:
Network Analysis Tools: These tools can provide deeper network traffic analysis, complementing ThreatNG's data and enabling a more detailed drilldown into network-related security rating factors.
Log Analysis Tools: Log analysis tools can provide detailed information about security events, which can be correlated with ThreatNG's security rating data to provide a more comprehensive drilldown.
ThreatNG's intelligence repositories provide valuable context for Security Rating Drilldowns.
These repositories ("DarCache") provide continuously updated information on various threats and vulnerabilities:
DarCache Vulnerability: Provides information on vulnerabilities (NVD, EPSS, KEV) and exploits.
DarCache Dark Web: Provides intelligence on dark web activity.
DarCache Ransomware: Tracks ransomware groups and activities.
Example: The "DarCache Vulnerability" repository allows users to drill down into specific vulnerabilities affecting an organization's assets, their severity, and available exploits, providing crucial context for understanding their impact on the security rating.
Complementary Solutions:
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs): Integrating with TIPs can provide a broader and more diverse set of threat intelligence, enriching the security rating drilldown with a broader perspective on potential threats.
Vulnerability Management Platforms: These platforms can complement ThreatNG by providing more detailed vulnerability management workflows and remediation tracking.
ThreatNG provides a powerful platform for Security Rating Drilldown, with capabilities that include external discovery, assessment, reporting, continuous monitoring, investigation modules, and intelligence repositories. Its potential to work with complementary solutions can further enhance the depth and effectiveness of the drilldown process, enabling organizations to gain actionable insights into their security posture.
