When assessing an organization’s external attack surface, encryption-related issues (especially SSL misconfigurations) receive special attention. Why? Their widespread use, configuration complexity, and visibility to attackers as well as users make them more likely to be exploited.
This highlights how important your SSL configurations are in maintaining your web application security and minimizing your attack surface. However, research shows that most (53.5%) websites have inadequate security and that weak SSL/TLS configuration is amongst the most common application vulnerabilities.
Get your SSL configuration right, and you’ll enhance your cyber resilience and keep your apps and data safe. Get it wrong, however, and you can increase your organization’s attack surface, exposing your business to more cyberattacks. We’ll explore the impacts of SSL misconfigurations and explain why they present such a significant attack surface risk. Then, we’ll show you how a solid EASM platform can help overcome the challenges associated with detecting misconfiguration issues.
An SSL misconfiguration occurs when SSL certificates are improperly set up or managed, leading to vulnerabilities within an organization’s network. These misconfigurations can include outdated encryption algorithms, incorrect certificate setup, expired SSL certificates, and more. Such vulnerabilities directly affect an organization’s attack surface by creating possible entry routes for hackers.
SSL certificates provide a secure channel for data transmission between clients and servers. They authenticate websites’ identities, ensuring users communicate with the intended entity. Misconfigured SSL certificates, however, can lead to risks, such as:
Identifying SSL misconfigurations without a comprehensive External Attack Surface Management (EASM) solution is challenging. The fact is most traditional security tools simply don’t have the capacity to continuously monitor and analyze all of your organization’s internet-facing assets. Combine this with the dynamic, ever-changing nature of digital environments — where assets are frequently added and updated — and it becomes even more difficult to effectively maintain secure SSL configurations. Specifically, for two reasons:
To take a proactive approach to managing and securing your organization’s external attack surface (including SSL configurations), consider investing in an automated, cloud-based EASM solution that monitors all your known and unknown assets. The best solutions can:
One solution that checks all of these boxes is Outpost24’s EASM platform. A cloud-based platform, that allows you to enhance your cyber resilience. The solution continually maps your organization’s growing attack surface, automatically gathering and analyzing data for both your known and unknown assets as well as adding cyber threat intelligence feeds for a more comprehensive approach to cyber risk. Then, the platform offers a variety of potential remediation actions you can take to eliminate security gaps and secure your digital presence against SSL vulnerabilities.
Your organization’s internet-facing assets are ever-growing — and your attack surface is, too. Understand your attack surface and boost cyber resilience with Outpost24’s Sweepatic EASM. Contact us to learn more about how EASM can help mitigate Cyber Risk in your attack surface.
