The traditional third-party risk assessment relies only on static assessments of vendors and doesn’t focus on real-time assessment of security posture. Vulnerabilities in third-party systems such as misconfigurations and unpatched software can quickly become attack vectors or entry points for threat actors. This is where External Attack Surface Management (EASM) in third-party risk management is crucial.

In this blog, we’ll explore what third-party risk management is, What EASM is, and the role of EASM in third-party risk management.

What is Third-Party Risk Management

Third-party risk management is identifying and addressing the risks arising in IT infrastructure from third-party vendors or partners. These risks can result in operational disruptions, legal problems, compliance violations, data leaks, etc. Third-party risk management has gained importance recently due to the high-profile data breaches caused by third-party vendors or partners.

What is External Attack Surface Management(EASM)

External Attack Surface Management (EASM) is the practice of monitoring and assessing all internet-exposed assets. These assets include websites, APIs, cloud instances, and other services that could be targeted by cybercriminals to infiltrate the organization’s IT infrastructure. In simple, EASM maps out all the potential entry points that an attacker could exploit.

The primary motive of EASM is to reduce the risk of data breaches and security incidents that stem from external-facing assets. For example, the WannaCry attack in 2017 exploiting an eternal blue vulnerability in Windows could have been detected if the organization deployed EASM to continuously monitor the attack surface.

Role of EASM in Third-Party Risk Management

EASM plays a critical role in improving security by providing continuous and automated monitoring of attack surfaces from third-party vendors.

1. Providing Visibility 

One of the challenges in managing third-party risk is the lack of proper visibility into the security practices of third-party vendors. Many organizations only rely on questionnaires and audits to assess third-party security. EASM provides continuous monitoring of external assets, which allows organizations to always view the third-party vendor’s security posture 24/7.

2. Incident Response

Another important component of Third-Party risk management is having a proper incident response plan. During security incidents, EASM can help security teams quickly pinpoint which asset from third-party vendors was responsible, enabling faster and more targeted incident response efforts.

3. Compliance with Regulation

Many organizations are required to comply with data security and privacy regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or CCPA. These regulations are often extended to third-party vendors if they handle sensitive data from the organization. Non-compliance can lead to high fines and reputation damage.

EASM helps organizations ensure compliance by monitoring the sensitive data movement by third-party vendors and their security practices. If any assets are found to be non-compliant, EASM can flag these issues promptly.

4. Risk Prioritization 

Once vulnerabilities are identified, they need to be addressed promptly but not all vulnerabilities are dangerous and only some may be exploited by cybercriminals. EASM tools use threat intelligence feeds and perform risk analysis to help security team to prioritize vulnerabilities that are mostly likely exploited.

For example, if a third-party vendor database is exposed to the internet and using outdated protocols. EASM can flag one of these as a high-priority risk based on analysis. This helps security teams focus on addressing the most critical and dangerous vulnerabilities first, reducing the chances of a breach or exploitation by threat actors.

5.Identifying Shadow IT

As organizations work with multiple third-party vendors simultaneously, it becomes hard to track assets like APIs( Zombie APIs) and endpoints that may have been deployed. This is known as Shadow IT- where employees or third-party vendors still have access to applications, devices, and networks without the knowledge of the IT department. 

EASM can help detect shadow IT by scanning any assets linked to third-party vendors. For example, a third-party vendor may have given access to networks or applications but haven’t revoked them after changing the vendor.

6. Vendor Risk Assessment

Third-party risk management involves evaluating the compliance and security posture of third-party vendors before signing contracts. Traditional risk assessments rely only on manual audits and self-reported data. This approach may not provide an accurate picture of the vendor’s security posture.

EASM improves and makes third-party vendor assessment easy with a data-driven approach. Organizations can leverage EASM tools to asses their vendor vulnerabilities and misconfiguration. This reduces the chances of data breaches due to third-party vendors.

Related Reading: How to Implement EASM in Your Organization

Conclusion

As per the study, 79% of the cyber risks are always outside the organization’s security perimeter and the exposure of assets doubled in the last two years. These stats show the role of External Attack Surface Management (EASM) in third-party risk management. The traditional approach of securing an organization’s IT infrastructure no longer prevents data breaches and cyber-attacks.

The risks posed by third-party vendors and partners are overlooked. External Attack Surface Management (EASM) offers dynamic and real-time monitoring allowing organization to enhance their security posture, safeguard their data, and ultimately strengthen the organization’s resilience towards threat actors and data breaches.