Attack Surface Reduction for Enterprises: A Guide

Today’s enterprises have embraced digital evolution. Business deals are conducted in online spaces, contracts are signed with a keyboard, data is held in physical servers and the cloud, and client support tickets are logged into a database. This is all completed using efficient in-house or third-party software tools. 

However, as enterprises have embraced the rise of digital interfaces, cybersecurity criminals have capitalized on it. For each new tool, novel chat platform feature, or bookkeeping system update an enterprise introduces into its environment, multiple attack surfaces are created. 

This guide is a tool that covers the key principles of attack surface reduction for enterprises and empowers teams to take the next steps to secure their cybersecurity attack surface across hybrid and remote workplaces.

Key highlights:

• Reducing an attack surface limits security vulnerabilities across digital, physical, and human risk factors.
• Network access controls, role-based access, and continuous asset discovery prevent unauthorized access and lateral movement.
• Strong authentication, endpoint security, and cloud protection enhance cybersecurity resilience.
• Employee training on social engineering threats strengthens the human layer of defense.

What Is Attack Surface Reduction?

Attack surface reduction is the process of minimizing the number of security weak points, vulnerable assets, and access hubs that cybercriminals can exploit to infiltrate a company’s network. It focuses on identifying, managing, and securing all digital, physical, and human risk factors to shrink the overall exposure to attacks. Effectively reducing attack surfaces requires distinct tools for digital, physical, and human risks. 

The principles of monitoring continuously, hardening security, and protecting company data are universal, but the strategies are unique for each potential risk area.

Attack surfaces fall into three main categories: digital, physical, and human. Each type has its own set of vulnerabilities and requires specific reduction strategies to effectively minimize risk. The table below outlines common examples of each and proven methods to secure them.

Benefits of a Reduced Attack Surface for Enterprises

Reducing the attack surface provides multiple benefits for enterprises in all industries. If a cybersecurity breach occurs, an organization can encounter immense financial risk. An attacker can halt an entire digital network if a successful malware infiltration occurs, and in the case of a ransomware attack, they can exfiltrate sensitive data and force victims to send an anonymous payment.

According to a 2024 report by CybelAngel, without counting the actual ransomware payment, the average financial cost needed to recover from a ransomware attack is $1.82 million. The average ransom fee to restore stolen data is $2.6 million. From surveyed organizations, only 39% of those who paid the ransom fee could recover their operations within a week. Even if a ransom fee is paid, the attacker is not guaranteed to return the data. In contrast, investing in cybersecurity requires 8% of the cost needed to recover after a major security incident.

Attack surface reduction simultaneously identifies highly vulnerable avenues for a breach and highlights outdated assets that are no longer needed.

Enterprises incur immense operational costs to provide their day-to-day services. A key element of digital attack surface reduction is asset discovery. Effective attack surface management tools scan across company networks, finding outdated assets that are no longer required, including:

• Legacy software
• Ineffective project files
• Orphaned website pages
• Additional unnecessary resources

These assets drain an enterprise’s budget and provide particularly appealing attack vectors for cybercriminals.

Reducing an attack surface doesn’t just strengthen security, it delivers wide-ranging benefits across the entire organization. From cutting costs to improving operational resilience, the table below highlights key advantages enterprises gain through effective reduction.

7 Proven Strategies to Reduce Attack Surface

Reducing the attack surface requires cohesive efforts on all fronts, strong network protection, adherence to authentication best practices, and continuous vigilance.

Physical attack surface protection relies on understanding how internal and third-party stakeholders interact with physical equipment and network endpoints, especially through remote access. Without this understanding and the appropriate network security policies, an enterprise is far more likely to experience more than one cybersecurity attack.

Human risk is mitigated by ensuring employees know all types of attack surfaces and vectors, especially social engineering. This is accomplished through training, authentication, and a zero-trust framework.

Follow these seven steps to reduce your organization’s attack surface:

1. Implement Network Access Controls

Whether gaining access to a company database through social engineering or not, a successful cyber attacker can move laterally through the network to access cross-department data. The most crippling damage point can branch out far beyond their initial entry point. This is where network and role-based access controls come into focus for attack surface cybersecurity.

Network access controls protect a widespread enterprise across one or multiple company facilities by “siloing” each department and team. If an attacker breaks through network security, they will be isolated to only the data and assets available through their attack vector endpoint of origin.

Shrinking the attack surface via network access controls involves a zero-trust framework, which requires a strong working relationship between HR and cybersecurity teams. By constantly coordinating, teams will know when employees are added and removed from the enterprise. With continuous monitoring and network access maintenance, dissatisfied employees cannot go rogue, and the credentials of former employees cannot be accessed or sold to a malicious third party.

Role-based controls enhance security by ensuring employees only maintain access to the assets, resources, and logins relevant to their job duties. By keeping your database restricted on a “need to know” basis, if a cybercriminal uses malware to gain access to a company network, they will be limited to just that “silo” of the environment.

These security attack surface strategies ensure that in the case of a breach, a single attacker cannot compromise the entire enterprise operation.

By implementing proper access controls, your enterprise can:

• Enable network access controls to isolate a successful cyberattacker to only their specific endpoint of origin
• Coordinate cybersecurity and HR teams to ensure login credentials are properly added, updated, and removed as needed
• Utilize role-based access controls to keep database access on an “as needed” basis, ensuring that if a malicious actor does break into the enterprise network, they cannot laterally move to other departments

Explore how retailers are embracing zero trust to strengthen their network security posture.

2. Conduct Continuous Asset Discovery

Enterprise organizations are dynamic; new endpoints and fresh attack vectors are continually introduced. Even when an audit is conducted, team members will add new devices. Continuous asset discovery helps to shrink attack surfaces across an organization by treating cybersecurity as an ongoing requirement.

Assets come from several different sources and are of many types. Multiple third-party organizations (vendors, chat platforms, consultants, project management systems, etc.) invite new endpoints into the database. Additionally, internal employees may download external software (browser extensions, file conversion tools, personal paid accounts) without consulting IT. This introduces new, otherwise unknown attack surfaces that create unnecessary risk.

By continuously auditing for assets, cybersecurity attack surface software identifies and shuts down new avenues a bad actor could exploit. Enhance your current process by: :

• Conducting an audit to find currently used and unused legacy assets
• Continuously audit for new assets moving forward, as the enterprise digital attack surface is constantly expanding
• Remaining aware that employees and third-party software inherently expand the attack surface, making continuous asset scanning a key part of a strong security profile

Learn more about how asset discovery tools work with our helpful guide for enterprises.

3. Execute System Hardening Protocols

Once an organization invests in a cybersecurity solution, continuously discovering assets is only one step toward attack surface reduction. The discovered network vulnerabilities must also be closed by hardening the system through strategic protocols. This requires prioritizing the most sensitive information, programs, third-party tools, legacy software, apps, and expired user accounts.

According to a 2024 survey by Claroty of 1,100 cybersecurity professionals, 45% reported that at least half of their physical system assets are connected to the internet. The increased need for remote access to physical systems was a primary reason for this.

Of the surveyed companies, 45% experienced five or more attacks in the previous 12 months originating from third-party access to physical attack surface assets. 63% of these organizations admitted to having a limited or no understanding of how third-party vendors connected to their physical technology environment.

Condensing and protecting physical surfaces requires multiple cybersecurity attack surface tools. Data must be encrypted, software security patches must be consistently updated, network ports must be minimized, and physical badge access to essential spaces such as server rooms should be a mainstay.

To improve hardening protocols, begin by:

• Prioritizing security needs based on which attack surfaces are the most vulnerable, potentially damaging, or most likely to impact operations
• Securing or removing legacy assets that bring vulnerability and unnecessary risk
• Protecting physical assets through robust security measures

4. Enforce Strong Authentication

Strong enterprise attack surface management relies on mitigating human risk. In addition to social engineering awareness and reporting, one of the most reliable strategies to protect an organization is enforcing strong authentication protocols.

The ITRC (Identity Theft Resource Center) released its 2024 data breach report, revealing that four of the six largest unauthorized access breaches could have been prevented with multi-factor authentication (MFA). Adjusting overly permissive authentication policies such as stale passwords or legacy access and implementing new policies such as VPNs, optimized firewalls, and siloed directories dramatically reduce the attack surface across an enterprise.

To start enforcing strong authentication for your network, ensure you:

• Remove overly permissive cybersecurity policies, such as password recycling or written-down login credentials
• Implement strong authentication requirements, such as MFAs, VPNs, and new passwords quarterly

5. Secure All Endpoints

Attack surface reduction covers internal systems and extends to all security endpoints, which are physical or virtual devices that connect to a company network. These connections are the entry or exit points for data and are also appealing attack vectors for cybercriminals. As enterprises and their associated devices grow, endpoints across the attack surface rapidly increase. Personal devices on company networks, such as mobile phones, point-of-sale systems, and smart medical tools, must be secured using robust software that accommodates the rapid expansion of these devices.

Beneficial features include automatic OS updates, network segmentation, and ensuring cybersecurity software integrates with the latest versions of business applications.

To enable better control over endpoints in your environment, you must:

• Remain aware that with each new enterprise device, a new endpoint is created
• Plan for non-protected devices to be on company premises, including creating a guest WiFi for unprotected devices
• Consistently require software updates for all devices, including mobile phones, point-of-sale systems, and smart devices

6. Lock Down Cloud Services

Cloud services are an integral part of the modern enterprise workflow. Securing cloud-only information involves implementing strong protocols on third-party software as well. 

Third-party software can introduce new attack vectors with a single update. By utilizing an adaptive cloud network security platform that properly meshes with the services your enterprise relies on, the attack surface is reduced as new opportunities for risk are introduced.

Protect your vital cloud services by:

• Utilizing continuous monitoring to ensure that malware or ransomware is not uploaded to cloud services
• Keeping a physical copy of crucial company data
• Maintaining security procedures with third-party vendors and their cloud services

7. Stay Aware of Social Engineering

The most potent cybersecurity software and the most skilled teams in the world are worthless if a company employee falls victim to a social engineering attempt. When everyone, especially non-technical personnel, is trained to identify bad actors,  understand how they work, and are equipped to stop them, enterprises significantly reduce their attack surface.

Social engineering relies on company employee being tricked into handing over their account details or login information. This attack vector is especially effective as it can circumvent the security protocols entirely. Enterprises also defend themselves by protecting their employees against phishing, vishing, and smishing attempts.

Help your team proactively spot risks by:

• Training employees on social engineering, what it is, and how it works
• Testing employees by sending a fake phishing email or voicemail on company devices
• Ensuring that reporting tools are both ubiquitous for all personnel and user-friendly

Start Reducing Attack Surface with FireMon

FireMon’s cyber asset management solution stands apart in the attack surface reduction space with a holistic approach that handles firewall policy risk, implements network and role-based access solutions, simplifies system hardening protocols, and secures first and third-party data endpoints.

By aligning security initiatives with business objectives, employing intuitive dashboards for executives, and visualizing actionable insights for security teams, FireMon helps enterprises reduce their attack surface while strengthening their cybersecurity posture across hybrid cloud environments.

Book a demo today and see how FireMon can help reduce your attack surface.