Why Every Company Needs to Rethink Its External Exposure
AKATI Sekurity’s EASM service helps organizations discover what they didn’t know they exposed.
The Risk That Lives Beyond the Perimeter
The internet never forgets what you publish — even when you do. As organizations rapidly scale their infrastructure to accommodate hybrid work, cloud-first strategies, and API integrations, their digital footprints expand in ways that few truly track. What begins as a convenience often becomes a liability.
At the center of this risk is the growing surface of internet-exposed assets that lie outside traditional security monitoring. These are not fictional edge cases. They include subdomains spun up for marketing campaigns, development environments never decommissioned, misconfigured SaaS portals, and forgotten storage buckets. Every one of these has the potential to become a silent entry point for attackers.
What EASM Actually Does
External Attack Surface Management (EASM) is not a product, but a practice. It begins by assuming the perspective of an attacker, scanning the public-facing web to identify every point where your organization’s infrastructure touches the open internet.
But rather than simply listing assets, EASM systems are designed to correlate and contextualize them. The goal isn’t inventory. It’s exposure awareness.
A Systematic Method of Discovery
The method is systematic. It starts with continuous asset discovery: tracking domains, IP addresses, third-party services, and hosting environments linked to an organization. This includes assets you directly own and those you indirectly expose through vendors or shared infrastructure.
Next, the system performs attribution. Using techniques like DNS analysis, certificate mapping, and behavioral fingerprinting, the platform groups assets to determine which ones belong to you — even if they weren’t formally cataloged by your IT department.
From there, the process moves to validation and risk analysis. The discovered assets are evaluated for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, expired certificates, exposed interfaces, and inconsistent security headers. Any anomalies are flagged not just as issues, but as part of a broader risk pattern.
Connecting the Dots Others Miss
Most vulnerabilities do not exist in isolation. An unsecured dev subdomain is a problem, but paired with a login form and weak authentication, it becomes a vector for intrusion. EASM’s strength lies in surfacing these layered risks — the kind that evade traditional tools because no one knew to look there.
This is not passive mapping. It’s active intelligence — driven by how real-world attackers think, behave, and operate.
Extending Visibility, Not Replacing Security
To be clear, EASM is not a replacement for existing security measures. Firewalls, endpoint detection, and vulnerability scanners remain essential. But these tools work best when the terrain is known. They operate within defined boundaries.
EASM redraws those boundaries by revealing the sprawl that has quietly accumulated around your core systems. It does not compete with your security stack; it completes it.
Compliance Is the Floor — Not the Ceiling
In a regulated environment, this is not a matter of convenience. It is often a compliance requirement. Frameworks like ISO 27001, NIST CSF, and the Cyber Security Act 2024 emphasize asset visibility and third-party risk — two areas EASM directly strengthens.
But beyond compliance, the real value lies in control. No organization can secure what it cannot see. And in the absence of visibility, attackers enjoy an advantage they never should have had.
EASM restores that balance. It gives defenders the same vantage point adversaries use — and then helps them act faster.
This isn’t about chasing shadows. It’s about illuminating them, clearly and continuously.
AKATI Sekurity’s EASM Offering
AKATI Sekurity’s EASM service is available as a managed intelligence program or a one-time discovery engagement. It is built for modern infrastructures, where assets shift by the hour and visibility is no longer optional.
What you know won’t hurt you.
What you’ve forgotten just might.
