Frictionless Security
In the context of cybersecurity, frictionless security refers to the implementation of security measures and practices that are designed to be as seamless, unobtrusive, and user-friendly as possible, without compromising the effectiveness of the security itself. The goal is to minimize obstacles, delays, and complexities for legitimate users and operations, while still maintaining robust defenses against threats.
Traditional security often introduces "friction" in the form of:
Cumbersome login procedures: Complex passwords, frequent password changes, or multi-factor authentication (MFA) methods that are difficult to use.
Intrusive security alerts: Frequent, confusing, or irrelevant notifications that disrupt workflows.
Slow performance: Security tools that bog down systems or networks.
Complex policy enforcement: Rules that are difficult for users to understand or adhere to, leading to workarounds.
Lengthy approval processes: Delays introduced by manual security reviews or approvals.
Frictionless security aims to remove or significantly reduce these points of friction. It's built on the idea that security should be an enabler, not a hindrance, for productivity and positive user experience. When security is too cumbersome, users are more likely to bypass it, find insecure workarounds, or become complacent, ultimately weakening the organization's overall security posture.
Key aspects and approaches to achieving frictionless security include:
User Experience (UX) Focused Design: Security solutions are designed with the end-user in mind, prioritizing ease of use and intuitive interfaces.
Invisible Security: Many security functions operate in the background without requiring direct user interaction. This includes continuous monitoring, threat detection, and automated remediation.
Adaptive and Context-Aware Security: Security systems analyze context (e.g., user behavior, device posture, location, time of day) to make intelligent access decisions. For example, a user logging in from a known device at a typical location might have a more straightforward authentication process than someone logging in from a new device in an unusual location.
Single Sign-On (SSO) and Passwordless Authentication: Implementing SSO allows users to access multiple applications with one set of credentials, reducing login fatigue. Passwordless authentication methods, such as biometrics (fingerprint, facial recognition) or FIDO2 security keys, eliminate the need to memorize complex passwords.
Automation: Automating routine security tasks, such as patching, vulnerability scanning, and incident response playbooks, reduces manual effort and speeds up processes.
Streamlined Policy Enforcement: Security policies are clear, easy to understand, and often enforced automatically, reducing the burden on users to constantly remember and apply complex rules.
Continuous Authentication: Instead of authenticating only at login, systems continuously verify user identity and trustworthiness throughout a session, often without explicit user action.
Proactive Threat Prevention: Focusing on preventing attacks before they occur through robust endpoint protection, network segmentation, and secure coding practices reduces the need for reactive security interventions that might interrupt users.
The ultimate goal of frictionless security is to foster a culture where security is seamlessly integrated into daily operations, making it a natural part of work rather than a separate, burdensome task. This approach not only improves user satisfaction but can also lead to stronger security by reducing human error and encouraging adherence to secure practices.
ThreatNG provides "Frictionless Security. Seamless Integration (into your workflow, not your network)" by offering "Total External Visibility. Zero Blind Spots." It achieves this through its unique approach to external attack surface management, digital risk protection, and security ratings. The absence of connectors means there are no agents to deploy, no network changes are required, and no credentials need to be shared, resulting in a more frictionless security experience for the organization.
Here's a detailed explanation of how ThreatNG helps with frictionless security:
ThreatNG's ability to perform purely external, unauthenticated discovery using no connectors is fundamental to providing "Frictionless Security". This means organizations do not need to install agents on their systems, make network changes, or share internal credentials. This eliminates the typical deployment friction associated with many security tools. ThreatNG maps out an organization's digital footprint from an attacker's perspective, uncovering unknown or forgotten assets and shadow IT without requiring any intrusive setup or ongoing management within the organization's network.
ThreatNG provides comprehensive external assessment ratings without the need for complex configurations or internal access, contributing to frictionless operation. Examples include:
Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: ThreatNG assesses external attack surface and digital risk intelligence, including Domain Intelligence, to analyze web application parts accessible from the outside world. This frictionless assessment identifies potential entry points for attackers without requiring any agent deployment on the web servers themselves.
Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility: ThreatNG's Security Rating uses external attack surface and digital risk intelligence, incorporating Domain Intelligence, to evaluate this. This includes a comprehensive analysis of the website's subdomains, DNS records, and SSL certificate statuses. This means organizations can passively assess this risk without providing any internal network access.
BEC & Phishing Susceptibility: This is derived from Sentiment and Financials Findings, Domain Intelligence (DNS Intelligence capabilities, Domain Name Permutations, Web3 Domains, Email Intelligence), and Dark Web Presence (Compromised Credentials). This assessment is performed entirely externally, providing insights into an organization's susceptibility to business email compromise and phishing without needing access to internal email systems.
Mobile App Exposure: ThreatNG evaluates the exposure of an organization’s mobile apps through their discovery in marketplaces and by examining their contents for various access credentials, security credentials, and platform-specific identifiers. This assessment is entirely external, requiring no access to internal development environments or mobile device management systems, offering frictionless insights into mobile app security risks.
ThreatNG identifies and highlights an organization's security strengths, detecting beneficial security controls and configurations, such as Web Application Firewalls or multi-factor authentication. This feature operates externally, validating these positive measures from an attacker's perspective and providing objective evidence of their effectiveness. It gives a more balanced and comprehensive view of an organization's security posture, explaining the specific security benefits of these positive measures. This frictionless validation enables organizations to confirm their external defenses without relying on internal audits.
ThreatNG offers various reports (Executive, Technical, Prioritized, Security Ratings, Inventory, Ransomware Susceptibility, and U.S. SEC Filings). The Knowledgebase embedded throughout the solution and reports provides risk levels, reasoning, recommendations, and reference links. This streamlined reporting provides actionable intelligence without requiring extensive manual data collection or internal coordination, contributing to a frictionless workflow.
ThreatNG provides continuous monitoring of the external attack surface, digital risk, and security ratings of all organizations. This constant, external monitoring ensures that changes in an organization's digital footprint or emerging vulnerabilities are identified in real-time, all without requiring ongoing internal configuration or maintenance, embodying frictionless security.
ThreatNG's investigation modules enable deep dives into external information without internal integration complexities, promoting frictionless security analysis:
Domain Intelligence: This includes Domain Overview, DNS Intelligence, Email Intelligence, WHOIS Intelligence, Subdomain Intelligence, IP Intelligence, and Certificate Intelligence. This comprehensive external analysis offers detailed insights into an organization's public digital assets, requiring no internal access. For instance, it can identify all associated IP addresses, technologies used by vendors, and potential typosquatting domains purely from external observation.
Sensitive Code Exposure: ThreatNG discovers public code repositories and uncovers digital risks, including exposed access credentials, cloud credentials, security credentials, configuration files, database exposures, application data exposures, activity records, communication platform configurations, development environment configurations, security testing tools, cloud service configurations, remote access credentials, system utilities, personal data, and user activity. This module operates entirely externally, automatically identifying sensitive information leaked in publicly accessible code without any internal access or code scans.
Mobile Application Discovery: ThreatNG discovers mobile apps in marketplaces and identifies specific sensitive contents within them, such as Access Credentials, Security Credentials, and Platform-Specific Identifiers. This is a frictionless way to identify security risks in mobile applications without requiring internal access to app development environments.
Cloud and SaaS Exposure: ThreatNG identifies Sanctioned, Unsanctioned, and Impersonated Cloud Services, as well as open and exposed cloud buckets on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, along with various SaaS implementations. This external evaluation provides immediate visibility into cloud and SaaS risks without any internal API integrations or credentials, fostering frictionless security oversight.
Intelligence Repositories (DarCache)
ThreatNG maintains continuously updated intelligence repositories, branded as DarCache, which are crucial for frictionless security operations:
Dark Web (DarCache Dark Web): Includes Compromised Credentials (DarCache Rupture) and Ransomware Groups and Activities (DarCache Ransomware). This intelligence is gathered externally and made readily available, allowing security teams to quickly identify if their credentials or organization are mentioned on the dark web without the need for complex data collection.
Vulnerabilities (DarCache Vulnerability): This repository provides NVD data (technical characteristics and potential impact), EPSS data (likelihood of exploitation), and KEV data (actively exploited vulnerabilities), along with Verified Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Exploits. This comprehensive vulnerability intelligence is continuously updated and accessible, allowing for rapid and frictionless prioritization of external risks.
Synergy with Complementary Solutions
ThreatNG's "Frictionless Security. Seamless Integration (into your workflow, not your network)" approach makes it a powerful complement to other cybersecurity solutions:
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) Systems: ThreatNG's external threat intelligence and assessment findings can be integrated into SIEM/SOAR platforms, enriching existing data without requiring complex internal data collection or agent deployment. For instance, if ThreatNG identifies a critical exposed vulnerability on a public-facing asset, a SOAR system can automatically trigger an alert and initiate a remediation workflow, all based on ThreatNG's frictionless external view.
Vulnerability Management (VM) Solutions: ThreatNG's external identification of vulnerabilities, especially actively exploited ones (KEV), can directly inform VM solutions. This allows organizations to prioritize patching efforts on critical external-facing assets identified by ThreatNG's unauthenticated scans, complementing internal VM efforts without requiring any new internal configurations.
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs): ThreatNG's DarCache, with its rich data on compromised credentials, ransomware activities, and known exploited vulnerabilities, can augment existing TIPs without requiring additional data ingestion connectors. This provides a more comprehensive and effortlessly updated external threat intelligence feed.
Identity and Access Management (IAM) Solutions: ThreatNG's findings on compromised credentials from the Dark Web (DarCache Rupture) can seamlessly integrate into IAM workflows. If ThreatNG discovers leaked credentials, the IAM system can automatically trigger password resets or multi-factor authentication requirements for affected users, adding a layer of security with minimal user friction.
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) and Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP): ThreatNG's Cloud and SaaS Exposure module offers an external, frictionless view of cloud misconfigurations and exposed services. This complements CSPM tools that often rely on cloud provider APIs for internal visibility, ensuring that external-facing cloud risks are identified without requiring direct access or credentials to the cloud environment itself.
Digital Risk Protection (DRP) Platforms: As an all-in-one external attack surface management, digital risk protection, and security ratings solution, ThreatNG can enhance other DRP platforms by providing more profound and more granular insights into external threats. Its frictionless discovery of digital risks, such as brand impersonation or sensitive code exposure, can augment existing DRP capabilities without adding integration overhead.
Attack Surface Management (ASM) platforms: ThreatNG's unique "no connectors" approach provides unparalleled external visibility, filling gaps left by ASM tools that might rely on internal data or a more complex setup. This ensures a truly frictionless and comprehensive view of the external attack surface.
