The Best Attack Surface Monitoring Tools

Each application and device serve as an attack surface, providing an entry point for attackers into our networks and media. Your “attack surface” grows larger with each new gadget, cloud service, or remote network connection. So, is the need for the best attack surface monitoring tools. The word “attack surface” is a fairly broad term that refers to the collection of all endpoints through which an unauthorized party can get access to your system to enter or extract data.

Here is our list of the best attack surface monitoring tools:

1. Intruder EDITOR’S CHOICE A solid choice for attack surface and vulnerability management. It’s easy to use, simple to understand, and always on, so you can fix vulnerabilities faster. It offers comprehensive checks across web apps, APIs, network, and cloud systems. Get a 14-day free trial.
2. ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus (FREE TRIAL) An attack surface monitoring platform that helps organizations identify and fix vulnerabilities in their networks and devices. It uses vulnerability scanning to detect potential vulnerabilities, such as missing patches or insecure configurations and provides detailed reports on the results. Start a 30-day free trial.
3. Rapid7 InsightVM Along with vulnerability management capabilities, the Rapid7 InsightVM provides the majority of the functionality found in the leading attack surface monitors.
4. Digital Shadows SearchLight It may collect data from a variety of sources on the dark, open, and deep webs, including websites, social media platforms, dark web markets, remote workers, app stores, criminal forums, cloud storage, paste sites, and code repositories.
5. Bugcrowd Asset Inventory Created by white hat hackers, this crawler is ideal for assisting in the monitoring of any attack surface. A hacker-developed asset tracking service can read and monitor the security of supporting service layers. This is a software-as-a-service system.
6. OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) The OWASP ZAP is an open-source project that is completely free to integrate into your system. It is totally up to you how far you are willing to go with the tools to perfect your system.
7. CyCognito Attack Surface Management CyCognito is a useful tool in that it enables businesses to identify which code is generating vulnerabilities on their website and which company is responsible.
8. ImmuniWeb Includes features and functions that enable it to operate as both an attack surface monitor and a vulnerability scanner. It locates, analyses, and classifies all digital assets, whether they are in the cloud or on-premises. It does a scan of the APIs for code hosts.

Cloud services, a large mobile workforce, and work-from-home network topologies, among others, have all contributed to the expansion of your attack surface. Additionally, its isolated location makes it difficult to secure and protect. To defend against cyber security threats, you need the necessary tools to map and monitor your attack surface and assist you in mitigating risks.

What Should You Look for in Best Attack Surface Monitoring Tools?

Tools for monitoring the attack surface enable the management of the attack surface. This is an ongoing process, as new exploits are discovered regularly. Protecting an organization’s data has gotten increasingly complicated in the modern era. Businesses that develop applications collaborate with third-party vendors, who in turn collaborate with further third-party vendors. Hundreds of indirect vendors may be involved in the creation of a single SaaS product or webpage. Covid has aggravated the matter further.

ASM Research is divided into two parts. To begin, you must determine what data you have and the sensitivity ranking assigned to each piece of data.

Second, you must maintain an up-to-date software inventory. It is a continual process of identifying, inventorying, analyzing, prioritizing, and monitoring cloud assets that hold, process, or transfer sensitive data for security purposes.

The Best Attack Surface Monitoring Tools

1. Intruder (FREE TRIAL)

Intruder provides a security framework focused on vulnerability and attack surface management. It offers continuous monitoring of potential entry points, aiming to enhance threat anticipation. Conducting over 140,000 checks, Intruder works compatibly with prominent scanning technologies such as OpenVAS and Tenable, assisting in the identification of major vulnerabilities, including visible databases.

Key Features

• Always-on network monitoring & scanning
• Automated cloud scans
• Emerging Threat Scans
• Efficient attack surface reduction

Intruder offers straightforward measures to safeguard your attack surface. From the platform’s website, users have the option to initiate checks. The Essential plan provides unlimited on-demand checks, catering to those looking to meet compliance standards or enhance their system’s security. More advanced packages add the ability to scan internal endpoints, though this necessitates the installation of an agent. Intruder also provides dynamic application security tests (DAST) for web applications and APIs.

For a detailed security assessment, there’s also an option for manual penetration testing to deeply scrutinize your systems.

Intruder offers its attack surface monitoring service on a 14-day free trial.

2. ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus (FREE TRIAL)

Once vulnerabilities have been identified, ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus provides remediation guidance to help organizations address the issues. This can include step-by-step instructions and links to relevant resources.

Key Features

• Zero-day vulnerability mitigation
• Discovers vulnerabilities in devices, network configurations, and servers
• Simple deployment

To protect a network using Vulnerability Manager Plus, an organization can use the software to scan their network and devices for vulnerabilities regularly. If any vulnerabilities are detected, the software can provide a report and guidance on how to fix them. By proactively identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, organizations can improve the overall security of their network and devices.

In addition to vulnerability scanning and remediation guidance, Vulnerability Manager Plus includes features such as asset management, patch management, and compliance reporting to help organizations maintain the security of their IT infrastructure. These features can further enhance the security of a network by ensuring that all assets are appropriately managed and that patches and updates are applied promptly.

You can try ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus through a free and fully functional 30-day free trial.

ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus Download a 30-day FREE Trial

3. Rapid7 InsightVM

On top of the list is Rapid 7 InsightVM which provides systematic endpoint analytics and live vulnerability detection. This cloud-based application is capable of scanning faraway locations for external endpoints. It also includes Project Sonar, which collects data loss event notifications and other security-related data from several firms. This data can be used to configure a vulnerability scanner’s third-party risk assessment.

Once the Insight Agent is deployed, it will give real-time intelligence on user and network threats across all endpoints. Rapid7 InsightVM is more like a vulnerability manager than an attack surface monitor. It performs scans of virtual and cloud infrastructures, as well as network devices and endpoints. With these capabilities, it provides a highly scalable, available, and efficient method for collecting and turning vulnerability data into actionable insights.

InsightVM interacts easily with over 40 top technologies to boost the performance of other solutions in your technology stack, ranging from ITSM/ITOM to ticketing systems, containers, and SIEMs. Additionally, it makes use of an open RESTful API to provide enhanced visibility into your vulnerability data.

It includes superior third-party risk assessment capabilities, is cloud-based, scalable, and gives quick notifications. All of these functions are contained under a modern, intuitive graphical user interface. The tool provides a one-month free trial period.

4. Digital Shadows SearchLight

The Digital Shadow SearchLight is an ASM tool that examines the whole software assets of a client and compares them to intelligence supplied by known harmful individuals. This is a wonderful tool for ensuring that you are continually watchful against evolving dangers.

SearchLight analyzes every data it receives through its crawler and data analytics skills to identify potential attacks on the clients it protects. The type of data it detects can provide insight into the attack vector used by a hypothetical hostile agent. Once this is discovered, SearchLight notifies the client of which system defenses should be hardened in preparation.

SearchLight does not provide an all-inclusive ASM solution. However, it is an excellent complement to any ASM strategy. The tool is available for a one-week trial period. It provides access to a diverse range of data sources as well as the skills necessary to transform that data into intelligence.

SearchLight’s threat model adapts seamlessly to your threat profile and risk tolerance. It includes built-in playbooks and automation capabilities that enable it to take rapid action and decrease time-to-triage. It will scan your software assets for intel that has been circulated by recognized hackers.

It employs a combination of automation and human analysis to eliminate 95 percent of noise during risk detection and analysis. Finally, SearchLight includes pre-built context, integrations, and playbooks to initiate an immediate response.

5. Bugcrowd Asset Inventory

Because it is impossible to defend systems that you are unaware of, Bugcrowd is constantly on the lookout for these unknown assets and will notify you if it discovers a security risk linked with any of them.

Among the characteristics of Bugcrowd’s Attack Surface Management are the following:

1. Appropriate security researchers are selected from a global network of vetted white hat hackers
2. Mapping and attribution: Identify your organization’s assets.
3. Prioritization based on risk: Using data from Bugcrowd-managed initiatives, determines the amount of risk.
4. Reporting: Provides ranked risks, method of attribution, and recommendations for further steps.

If you want a more customized experience, you can order a human-assisted search of your system. This is a versatile but authentic exercise in which Bugcrowd places a bounty on your company’s system and invites some of the world’s greatest white-hat hackers to break into it, rewarding the first to do so.

All services are primarily cloud-based and can be accessed remotely, so you do not have to risk the security of your system simply because you cannot reach these individuals. The company even gives a trial period during which you can determine whether or not to continue with their service after tasting their dessert.

Bugcrowd employs a small number of highly skilled ethical hackers, sometimes known as ‘white hat hackers,’ who attempt to access the application under evaluation through various techniques, therefore identifying weaknesses.

With Bugcrowd ASM, organizations can rapidly identify and act on unknown assets, even before harmful attackers become aware of them. The website identifies qualified security researchers from a global network of pro-white hat hackers who can assist you in locating lost or forgotten valuables.

In this, the ASM also contains intelligent mapping and attribution, which allows you to filter out the noise and view only the assets that are genuinely yours, rather than all of them.

6. OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) 

ZAP is an open-source, free web security technology that is actively managed by a worldwide volunteer team of experts. It examines a website for the OWASP’s top ten threats, which serve as industry benchmarks.

The detector locates the host of each identified program and reports all of its call parameters and data kinds. As well, it can scan a program and store its code, simplifying recovery. Additionally, you can perform routine rescans of the application, comparing its code to its stored version, which simplifies the process of identifying changes that generate new vulnerabilities.

Attack Surface Detector locates hosts for discovered web applications and stores the code, as well as call parameters and data types. Businesses can use this system to scan newly discovered functions and compare their code to the stored version regularly to identify new vulnerabilities introduced by changes. Due to the tool’s open-source nature, it is immensely customizable.

ZAP is a highly extendable and adaptable program that operates as a middleman between the web application and the tester’s browser, intercepting and inspecting delivered messages. Furthermore, it adjusts the contents of packets as necessary and forwards them to the destination. It runs as a daemon and can also be used as a standalone application. If you already use a network proxy, ZAP can connect to it effortlessly.

The Attack Surface Detector is capable of tracing over APIs and Web services, making it a great tool for discovering attack surfaces.

7. CyCognito Attack Surface Management

CyCognito is a well-known attack surface monitoring tool that brands worldwide rely on to help protect their systems. CyCognito focuses on publicly exposed assets that serve as your online face to the world, identifying lice in these assets and assisting you in mitigating risk through strengthening your security procedures.

CyCognito is a software service platform for managing external attack surfaces. It automates and executes attacker strategies to evaluate and protect businesses. To discuss it a little deeper, the SaaS tool is divided into five stages: mapping business-asset relationships, defining business context, automating security testing, prioritizing risks, and expediting remediation.

In this, third-party risk assessment is included, as is an attack surface monitor that acts as an automatic vulnerability scanner. The CyCognito system is constantly searching each link in the chain of services that contribute to your websites, looking for vulnerabilities that may evolve. It assigns a risk score to each unit and prioritizes recommendations for hardening the most susceptible systems discovered.

The technology provides comprehensive visibility into your extended IT stack and identifies the top ten security flaws that account for 90% of your threats. After risk assessment, it provides detailed and actionable advice and leverages intelligence to assist your IT employees. Moreover, it supports workflow integrations with well-known IT technologies such as CMDBs, SIEMs, ITSM, and other software.

It employs natural language processing, machine learning, and graph data models to map your external attack surface. This identifies all business-asset linkages involving cloud environments, joint ventures, and acquired businesses. Following that, it uses iterative analysis to automatically classify and attribute attack surface assets.

8. ImmuniWeb 

ImmuniWeb is the most comprehensive tool on our list for monitoring the attack surface and identifying vulnerabilities. ImmuniWeb summarizes several services within a single comprehensive solution. The company offers tools that interface with your system to discover ‘weak points’ and guide how to seal up any gaps in the security dam.

The platform makes use of OSINT and AI to determine an organization’s attack surface and dark web exposure. It is an appropriate tool for risk grading vendors and constant self-assessment to avoid supply chain threats.

ImmuniWeb Discovery provides continuous security monitoring to uncover vulnerable or misconfigured IT assets for third-party and internal risk management. Additionally, it monitors the dark and deep web for compromised credentials, stolen data, brand misuse, phishing, and hacked systems. It rapidly delivers notifications to key team members for immediate response in the event of risk identification, forgotten assets, or shadow IT.

In addition, it monitors you and your company for any news on the dark web and alerts you if it detects any activity that could result in a data breach. The combination of the two services is ideal for any business. Also, the streamlined communication between the internal and external crawlers enables ImmuniWeb Discovery to study the system from both perspectives and assists in quickly tying up loose ends.

The company offers four distinct plans: Express Pro, Corporate, Corporate Pro, and an all-inclusive Ultimate. You may find the pricing extremely excessive, but that is the price you must pay if you host a high-risk database and cannot afford even the slightest compromise in the system’s security. ImmuniWeb helps ensure that you meet your annual data security targets.

The platform makes use of OSINT and AI to determine an organization’s attack surface and dark web exposure. It is an appropriate tool for risk grading vendors and constant self-assessment to avoid supply chain threats.

Final thoughts

Any website, program, or organization that wishes to remain secure and free of any negative consequences must employ the best attack surface monitoring tools to do so effectively. To avoid malicious attacks and data breaches, businesses must implement sound cybersecurity procedures and practices that enable them to continuously find and monitor their information technology assets and protect their attack surface.

A good Attack Surface Monitoring tool will assist you in identifying, monitoring, and managing your attack surface to mitigate cyber security risks. It provides a bird’s eye view of your whole risk landscape and systems for identifying vulnerabilities and preventing assaults before they occur.

With everything from training space to coinages moving to the digital kingdom, companies must be alert and cautious of any evil intentions, and we must be prepared to mobilize our warriors if someone attempts to knock down our fort.