Why Attack Surface Assessments Are Critical to Modern Cybersecurity
- derekdodds
- Jul 7
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 13
Introduction
In today’s threat landscape, organizations face a constant barrage of cyber threats targeting both internal and external systems. While traditional security assessments like vulnerability scans still play a role, they’re no longer enough. To stay ahead of the game, businesses must take a broader, more contextual approach, this starts with understanding and continuously reviewing their attack surface.
What Is an Attack Surface?
The attack surface encompasses all points where an unauthorized user can try to enter or extract data from an environment. This includes:
External assets: Public-facing IPs, web applications, APIs, cloud services.
Internal assets: Internal networks, employee devices, IoT systems, legacy infrastructure, wireless networks.
Understanding your attack surface is not just about knowing what’s exposed, it’s about knowing how it’s exposed, why it’s exposed, and whether it should be.
Put simply, if a system can be interacted with, by employees, partners, or attackers, it’s part of your attack surface.
Why an Accurate Inventory Matters
A foundational step in securing your environment is maintaining an up-to-date and accurate inventory of all assets, both external and internal. You can’t protect what you don’t know about.
Many organizations rely on old documentation, outdated network diagrams, or assumptions about what’s in place. This leads to blind spots that attackers are more than happy to exploit. A forgotten test server with default credentials or a legacy application exposed through a misconfigured firewall can be all it takes for a breach.
Keep in mind, it’s not just about listing devices. You need to understand:
What services are running?
How are they configured?
Who has access to them?
Are they patched and supported?
For example, a legacy IoT device connected to a poorly secured Wi-Fi network may not appear on a vulnerability scan, but it might still offer attackers a foothold into your environment.
It’s More Than Just IP Scanning
Running a vulnerability scan against a range of external IPs is a start, but it only scratches the surface. Attack surface assessments are not just about identifying known vulnerabilities. They’re about understanding context, what’s exposed, how it behaves, and whether it aligns with security best practices.
Key considerations include:
Are cloud assets using secure configurations?
Are remote access points such as VPNs or RDP gateways hardened?
Are legacy services unnecessarily exposed?
Are API endpoints rate-limited and authenticated?
Attackers don't rely on CVEs alone. They look for weak configurations, abandoned systems, and inconsistent policies. You should too.
The Importance of Log Visibility
Knowing what’s exposed is half the battle. The other half is monitoring those systems effectively. All exposed or high-risk systems should feed logs into a centralized logging platform, such as a SIEM or MDR solution.
Without visibility, you can’t detect suspicious behaviour or respond in real time. For instance:
If a legacy Wi-Fi network begins communicating with sensitive internal systems, would you know?
If an RDP server begins receiving brute force attempts, would you be alerted?
If a deprecated API starts getting unusual traffic, who’s watching?
Logs are your eyes and ears. Without them, you’re flying blind.
Continuous Review Is Key
Attack surfaces are not static. As the organization grows, adopts new technologies, decommissions systems, or migrates to the cloud, your exposure changes. That’s why attack surface assessments must be ongoing, not one-time events.
Set a cadence, monthly, quarterly, or aligned to major changes, and use tools that can help automate discovery, logging, and correlation. Combine technical assessments with human insight to contextualize risk and make informed decisions.
Final Thoughts
Attack surface assessments are a foundational component of a mature cybersecurity program. They go beyond vulnerability scanning to paint a real-world picture of what your organization looks like to an attacker. By maintaining a complete and accurate inventory, ensuring configurations meet current security standards, and forwarding logs to SIEM or MDR platforms, you dramatically improve your ability to detect and respond to threats.
Cybersecurity isn’t about locking every door, it’s about knowing which doors exist, which ones matter, and which ones you need to watch. Attack surface assessments help you do just that.
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