Attack Surface Assessment

As your business evolves, so do the risks from threat actors — whether through new technologies, supply chain changes or IT expansion. Stripe OLT’s offensive security team reviews your entire attack surface to identify vulnerabilities and potential entry points, helping you reduce risk, prevent data breaches and strengthen your overall security posture.

Connection mapping

UK-based security team

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Expert-led global cyber investigations

Our Assessments

Benefits

Methodology

Why Stripe OLT?

Attack Surface FAQs

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What is an Attack Surface Review?

An attack surface assessment — also known as an attack surface analysis, evaluation or review — serves as a sophisticated threat intelligence tool. It maps out an organisation’s digital vulnerabilities, offering a comprehensive overview from the perspective of potential threat actors.
Our team provides tailored attack surface assessments that can cover the following core areas:

Exposed network devices

Leaked credentials

Misconfigurations within your systems

Public-facing security vulnerabilities

Network surfaces

Application and software surfaces

Authentication and access control

Cloud and third-party surfaces

Endpoint surfaces

System management surfaces

Communication surfaces

Policy, training and human surfaces

What are the Benefits of An
Attack Surface Review

Why does your organisation need an Attack Surface Review?

Discover hidden weaknesses
Our attack surface review identifies unknown internet-connected assets, unsecured third-party vendors and outdated software. It builds a clear picture of your entire attack surface.

Prioritise fixes
Within the attack surface review report, we highlight and prioritise the largest gaps in your security, with added remediation advice. You can efficiently allocate resources to the areas that need them most and secure your assets and data.

Risk reduction
Shrink the target size of your attack surface and reduce the risk of financial loss or reputational damage from data leaks.

Maintain and build trust
Conducting an attack surface review and improving defensive measures demonstrates your commitment to cyber security. It helps build trust with customers, clients and partners by showing a genuine effort to protect their data.

Our Attack Surface Methodology

An attack surface assessment is a crucial first step in reducing your attack surface. It involves mapping all points that an attacker could exploit to enter your IT estate.

At Stripe OLT, we employ a meticulous methodology to ensure that every potential vulnerability is thoroughly examined and addressed.

Reconnaissance and attack surface mapping

The first phase is conducted before any automated tools are used. During this stage, we identify open-source information that could lead to targeted attacks or reveal vulnerabilities.

Active information gathering and service discovery

This phase involves active mapping of the network and cloud-based infrastructure, vulnerability scanning of internet-facing services, and searching for unpublished directories, files and servers.

Passive information gathering

Here, we collect information outside your organisation’s network. This can involve web presence, dark web data, employee-linked information, private groups and other third-party sources. The goal is to identify as much information as possible that could be accessed by malicious actors.

TCP/UDP scanning, URL fuzzing and fingerprinting

This stage probes the domains, URLs and IP addresses identified earlier. It reveals running services, operating systems and device details, and highlights areas where access should not be possible.

Attack surface review reporting

The final stage provides an actionable report, along with an accompanying workshop to help you fully understand the findings.

Elevate your cyber security game

Looking for OFFENSIVE Services?

Offensive cyber security services test your team’s defences and highlight weak points. Stripe OLT offers a range of offensive solutions, including penetration testing, attack simulations, red teaming and vulnerability assessments.

Penetration Testing

Vulnerability Assessments

Breach & Attack Simulation

Red Teaming Assessment

Attack Surface Assessment FAQs

What is an attack service?

An attack surface comprises all entry points and vulnerabilities (vectors) within your business that an attacker could exploit. An attacker can use these entry points to access your systems and extract or delete valuable data, leaking it to the dark web or using it for ransom. Some entry points pose greater vulnerabilities than others.

The smaller the attack vectors and surface, the more risk gets reduced. Regular assessments of your attack surface and improvements to security controls will significantly improve your company’s security posture. Maintaining a business’s attack surface should be an ongoing process.

What does an attack surface include?

An attack surface includes all possible vulnerability points that an unauthorised attacker could use to gain access. The most obvious attack surface points are in the digital area, hardware devices such as computers, mobile phones, network routers and servers, as well as software and cloud-based services. Physical surface examples include unauthorised USB devices, doors to server rooms, or unattended laptops. Some surfaces extend to users, where phishing and other social engineering techniques may be applied by threat actors.

What are the Types of Attack Surfaces?

There are many different areas of an organisation, system or network that are considered part of the attack surface. These can be divided into three main categories, each with its own subdivisions: digital attack surfaces, physical attack surfaces, and those that involve the human element.

Digital Attack Surfaces: The digital attack surface is the most recognised type. It includes all digital assets and systems, including networks, computers, software, cloud services, weak passwords, unsecured APIs, internet-facing assets and other systems. Reducing the number of devices and increasing security measures lowers risk.
Physical Attack Surfaces: The physical attack surface is the opposite of the digital. It can include stolen devices, malicious USB devices or manual bypassing of security controls. Reducing this surface may involve restrictions on using USB devices, limiting access to restricted areas, or adding physical security measures such as lockers for laptops and mobiles.
Human Element Attack Surfaces: The human element attack surface refers to employees, people and users within the business or organisation who may be manipulated into giving out information or granting malicious actors unauthorised access to resources. Phishing, pretexting, baiting and other forms of social manipulation all fall under this type of attack surface.

What is Attack Surface Scanning?

Attack surface scans aim to map out all software, devices and internet-facing systems within a target business. It is kind of like building security, where you identify all possible points of entry, like doors and windows.

What is the difference between attack surface management and breach and attack simulation?

Both attack surface management (ASM) and breach and attack simulation (BAS) are different types of risk management that complement each other well when combined, especially with other security checks such as red teaming and penetration testing. ASM focuses on the discovery, remediation and monitoring of potential attack vectors and vulnerabilities. The ultimate goal is to obtain a picture of security vulnerabilities from an attacker’s viewpoint.

BAS is more automated and involves the simulation of real cyber attacks and hacks. It aims to test both digital security and the team behind it, assessing how systems and people respond to threats in a potentially real-world scenario.

What is an attack surface management program or platform?

An attack surface management programme or platform is designed to be a continuous tool that improves security posture. It discovers new and emerging attack vectors and prioritises the threats these cause, with recommended remediations. As an attack surface management platform is more like a continuously managed service, a company can put it in place once a thorough initial attack surface risk analysis has been completed.

What is the difference between an internal and an external attack surface?

An external attack surface includes all possible vulnerability points or assets that can be accessed from outside a company or organisation. This mostly consists of internet-facing assets such as APIs, cloud servers, online software, email services or open ports.

Internal attack surfaces are only accessible from within the company or organisation. These could include internal apps, servers, local devices and networks, and malicious insiders. Often, an internal attack point can be reached once an external one is breached.

How much does an attack surface analysis cost?

An attack surface analysis can range drastically in price, from thousands to tens of thousands; a specific example is difficult to provide without details. The size and complexity of the company will increase the cost. As you can imagine, the larger the company, the larger the network and the greater the number of devices and software to cover. The scope of the attack surface review must also be taken into account. A full review of the entire attack surface may not be required; a review of just one area of the business will be cheaper. Furthermore, industry regulations—such as those in healthcare or finance may require more rigorous analysis in specific areas, which can affect costs.

Stripe OLT can provide you with a price for an attack surface review that is tailored to your organisation’s size, complexity and requirements. Get a Quote

Why Choose Stripe OLT to Conduct yout
Attack Surface REview

Award-Winning

We’re an award-winning managed services provider

With over 20 years of experience, we’ve built a reputation we’re proud of. Winning awards for both our managed IT and managed security services means we don’t just claim to be experts. With Stripe OLT, you are guaranteed an exceptional experience.

We are one of the top managed service providers for mid-market enterprises. We consistently achieve industry-leading customer satisfaction scores, with a dedicated focus on cyber security and IT support services.

UK Based

Your Trusted UK Cyber Security Partner

We are a full-service managed IT provider based in London, Bristol and Manchester, underpinned and led by ITIL-accredited engineers with deep expertise in Microsoft cloud and security technologies.

Our knowledgeable and highly qualified IT support engineers deliver a next-level service, consistently recognised through fantastic client feedback.

Our team supports organisations with their cybersecurity across the UK and beyond

Security Experts

highly certified security Team

We employ both ex-government and military veterans, we ensure our clients are protected by the best. Our engineers are IASME, CREST and Microsoft security certified (among others), consistently performing at a high level, 24/7.

Microsoft Specialists

Certified Microsoft Solutions Partner

At Stripe OLT, we’ve invested heavily in Microsoft certifications over the past three years. As a result, we are now one of the UK’s leading Microsoft partners in cloud and cyber security solutions, holding Microsoft Solutions Partner status in both Modern Work and Security.

Whether you need to enhance collaboration with applications such as SharePoint and Teams, or secure your environment with Azure Sentinel, you can trust our highly certified Microsoft team.

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