Sherlock Holmes is famous for his incredible ability to sift through piles of information; it removes the irrelevant and exposes the hidden truth. His philosophy is simple but brilliant: “When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be true.” Instead of following every clue, Holmes focuses on the details that are needed to lead him to a solution.
In the field of cybersecurity, vulnerability scanning reflects Holmes’s approach: Security teams are typically presented with a huge list of vulnerabilities, but not every vulnerability represents a real threat. Just as Holmes discards irrelevant clues, security teams must eliminate exposures that are unlikely to be exploited or do not pose a significant risk.
Impact testing (sometimes called adversarial impact testing) allows teams to focus on the most meaningful issues and minimize distractions. Similar to Holmes’s deductive reasoning, exposure testing directs organizations to vulnerabilities that, if left unaddressed, could lead to a security breach.
Why impact testing is critical to your organization
So, before we get into more technical details, let’s answer the big question: Why is contamination testing important for every organization, regardless of industry or size?
- Reduces risk focusing on exploitable vulnerabilities.
- Optimizes resources by prioritizing the most important issues.
- Improves security posture with constant review.
- Meets the requirements and audit requirements.
Holes in your armor: What the threat revelations mean
In cybersecurity, an exposure is a vulnerability, misconfiguration, or gap in the security of an organization’s IT environment that can be exploited by any threat actor. Examples are software vulnerabilities, weak encryption, misconfigured security controls, inadequate access controls, and unpatched assets. Think of these exposures as chinks in your armor – if left unaddressed, they provide an entry point for attackers to infiltrate your systems.
The role of exposure testing: from theory to practice
Checking the exposure run continuous tests to see if discovered vulnerabilities can actually be exploited and help security teams prioritize the most critical risks. Not all vulnerabilities are created equal, and many may be mitigated by controls that are already in place or may not be appropriate for your environment. Imagine that an organization has discovered a critical SQLi vulnerability in one of its web applications. The security team tries to exploit this vulnerability in a simulated attack scenario – an impact test. They find that all attack options are effectively blocked by existing security measures such as web application firewalls (WAFs). This understanding allows the team to prioritize other vulnerabilities that are not mitigated by current defenses.
While the CVSS and EPSS estimates provide a theoretical risk based on the estimate, it does not reflect real-world exploitability. Exposure testing bridges this gap by simulating real-world attack scenarios and turning raw vulnerability data into actionable information, ensuring that teams put effort where it matters most.
Stop chasing ghosts: focus on real cyber threats
Competitive impact testing provides important context through simulated attacks and testing of security controls.
For example, a financial services firm identifies 1,000 vulnerabilities in its network. If they were not confirmed, it would be difficult to prioritize the fix. However, using attack simulations, it is determined that 90% of these vulnerabilities are mitigated by the controls that are currently in place, such as NGFW, IPS and EDR. The remaining 100 are immediately exploitable and pose a major threat to critical assets such as customer databases.
In this way, an organization can focus its resources and time on addressing these 100 high-risk vulnerabilities and achieve dramatic security improvements.
Automating Sherlock: Scaling exposure testing with technology
Manual testing is no longer possible in today’s complex IT environments – this is where automation becomes essential.
Why is automation important for impact testing?
- Scalability: Automation quickly checks thousands of vulnerabilities, far beyond manual effort.
- Consistency: Automated tools provide repeatable, error-free results.
- speed: Automation speeds up verification. This means faster fixes and shorter exposure times.
Impact testing tools include Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) and Automation of penetration testing. These tools allow an organization to test exposure at scale by simulating real-world attack scenarios that test security controls against the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by threat actors.
On the other hand, automation relieves the burden on security teams, which are sometimes overwhelmed with a large number of vulnerabilities and alerts. By addressing only the most critical impacts, the team is much more efficient and productive; thus reducing the risks associated with burnout.
Common concerns about exposure testing
Despite the benefits, many organizations may be hesitant to set up an impact audit. Let’s tackle a few common problems:
⮩ “Isn’t impact testing difficult to implement?”
Not at all. Automated tools are easily integrated into existing systems with minimal disruption to current processes.
⮩ “Why is this necessary when we already have a vulnerability management system in place?”
While vulnerability management simply identifies weaknesses, exposure testing identifies vulnerabilities that can actually be exploited. The resulting exposure audit helps prioritize significant risks.
⮩ “Does impact testing only apply to large businesses?“
No, it scales for organizations of any size, regardless of resources.
Case Disclosure: Integrating Impact Testing into Your CTEM Strategy
The greatest return on investment in exposure validation integration comes when it is done within a Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) program.
CTEM consists of five key steps: scoping, discovery, prioritization, validation, and mobilization. Each phase plays an important role; however, the validation phase is particularly important because it separates theoretical risks from actual threats. This is echoed in the Gartner® Strategic Threat Impact 2024 Roadmap: What initially appears to be an “unmanageable big problem” will quickly become an “impossible task” without validation.
Case closure: eliminate the impossible, focus on the critical
Exposure testing is like Sherlock Holmes’ method of deduction – it helps you eliminate the impossible and focus on the critical. Even Mr. Spock echoed this logic, noting, “One of my ancestors said that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be true.” By identifying which impacts are exploitable and which existing controls are mitigating, organizations can prioritize remediation and effectively strengthen their security.
Apply this timeless wisdom to your cybersecurity strategy, take the first step towards eliminating the impossible, and reveal the truth of your real threats. Find out how Picus Security Verification Platform easily integrates with your existing systems, the most extensive exposure testing capabilities through advanced features such as Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS), Automated penetration testingand Red team to help you reduce risk, save time and strengthen your defenses against new threats.
Note: This article was written by Dr. Suleiman Ozarslan, Co-Founder and VP of Research at Picus Security.
