A Scenario: Protecting a Financial Institution from External Threats With EASM
Background
Carman Bank*, a mid-sized financial institution, has experienced rapid growth over the past five years. As part of its expansion, the bank has significantly increased its digital presence by launching new online banking services, mobile applications, and integrating various third-party cloud services to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency.
The Challenge
With the expansion, Carman Bank’s* external attack surface has grown considerably. The bank now manages various external-facing assets, including customer websites, web applications for loans, customer support tools, financial management tools, servers and cloud services. Despite having a robust internal security program, the bank’s security team struggles to maintain visibility and control over all these assets. They face several challenges: lack of visibility into all external-facing assets, shadow IT where some departments have independently adopted cloud services without notifying the IT department, continuous threats from cyber attackers constantly scanning the internet for vulnerabilities, and manual, time-consuming processes for identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities.
The Incident
One day, Carman Bank’s* Security team receives an alert from a third-party monitoring service indicating unusual activity on one of their web applications. Upon investigation, they discover that a critical web app used for loan applications has been compromised. Attackers exploited an unpatched vulnerability in the web app to gain unauthorized access to sensitive customer data, including personal and financial information. The breach goes undetected for several days.
The incident leads to severe financial losses, regulatory fines, and a loss of customer trust. The security team realizes that the compromised web app was part of a shadow IT initiative, not adequately inventoried or monitored, leaving it vulnerable to exploitation.
What They Could Have Done to Prevent This
Carman Bank* could have prevented this incident by implementing a comprehensive External Attack Surface Management (EASM) solution. With EASM, the bank would have gained full visibility into all its internet-facing assets, including those adopted without IT department knowledge. Continuous monitoring would have detected the unpatched vulnerability in the web application before it could be exploited. Automated discovery and inventory tracking of all external assets would have ensured that shadow IT initiatives were identified and included in the bank’s security protocols. AI-driven risk prioritization would have highlighted the critical nature of the vulnerability, prompting immediate remediation. By proactively managing their external attack surface, Carman Bank* could have significantly reduced the risk of cyberattacks and protected sensitive customer data.
The Solution: Implementing EASM
To address these challenges and prevent future incidents, Carman Bank* can implement Hive Pro’s External Attack Surface Management (EASM) solution, integrated fully within the Uni5 Xposure platform. The decision will suffice the need for a comprehensive and proactive approach to managing external threats.
With the implementation of EASM, Carman Bank* will gain comprehensive visibility into all its internet-facing assets. Hive Pro’s EASM automatically discovers and inventories every asset, including websites, web applications, servers, and cloud services. This ensures that the security team has a complete and up-to-date view of all external assets, including previously unknown or unmanaged ones. Continuous monitoring and integration with threat intelligence feeds provide up-to-date visibility into the external attack surface and help identify and assess the latest threats targeting the financial sector. EASM’s AI-driven risk scoring prioritizes threat exposure based on severity and potential impact, offering actionable remediation recommendations that enable the security team to prioritize the most critical issues. Furthermore, EASM identifies and manages unknown or unmanaged assets, reducing the risk of shadow IT introducing vulnerabilities.
Customizable alerts and detailed reports keep the security team informed of new exposures and vulnerabilities, enabling timely and effective responses to potential threats. With Hive Pro’s EASM, Carman Bank* will gain comprehensive visibility and control over its external attack surface. The security team can then proactively identify, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities, significantly reducing the risk of cyberattacks. The automated processes and real-time monitoring provided by EASM would immediately improve the bank’s overall security posture and ensure that all digital assets are protected against potential threats.
More on Uni5 Xposure
Hive Pro’s EASM solution is a part of Uni5 Xposure, Hive Pro’s comprehensive threat exposure management platform. Uni5 Xposure consolidates asset, security assessment, scan, vulnerability, and threat data into one data plane, providing visibility into the threat actor’s perspective. It includes home-grown threat, vulnerability, attack, threat actor, patch, and indicator of compromise (IOC) intelligence, as well as breach and attack simulation (BAS), vulnerability prioritization technology (VPT), six out-of-the-box scanners from code-infrastructure-cloud, and a unified interface for all security findings. This native integration enhances the robustness of Hive Pro’s cybersecurity offerings, making it the most powerful exposure management platform available.
Key Features of Hive Pro’s EASM Solution
- Comprehensive Asset Discovery: Hive Pro’s EASM solution offers automated discovery and inventory of all external-facing assets. This includes identifying subdomains, IP addresses, software, and security certificates that may be visible to attackers.
- Risk Prioritization and Remediation: Leveraging AI-driven risk scoring, Hive Pro’s EASM solution provides actionable remediation recommendations to address the most critical vulnerabilities first. This helps organizations prioritize their security efforts and efficiently allocate resources.
- Continuous Monitoring: With real-time scanning and integration with threat intelligence feeds, Hive Pro’s EASM solution ensures continuous visibility of the external attack surface. This proactive monitoring helps detect new exposures and vulnerabilities as they arise.
- Shadow IT Detection: Hive Pro’s EASM solution identifies and manages unknown or unmanaged assets that may pose security risks. By uncovering these shadow IT resources, organizations can prevent potential breaches.
- Detailed Reporting and Alerts: Customizable alerts and detailed reports provide security teams with the information they need to stay informed of new vulnerabilities and exposures. This enables timely and effective responses to potential threats.
Get Started Today
Cybersecurity practitioners are invited to experience the power of Hive Pro’s EASM solution. Start a free trial or get a free assessment of your attack surface today to see how Hive Pro can enhance your organization’s security posture.
For more information on how Hive Pro’s EASM solution can enhance your cybersecurity posture, visit www.hivepro.com
