There is nothing quite like the Star Wars franchise. For those of us of a certain generation, the “original” movies, episodes IV-VI, provided hours of entertainment during our childhoods, expanded our imaginations, and left an indelible mark. And the franchise continues to produce great content that provides new generations with the same experience of wonder and joy.
That’s why this May the 4th, in celebration of International Star Wars Day, we thought we’d share our Top 12 Star Wars quotes and how they apply to external attack surface management (EASM). These are all from the first set of movies released:
- “Episode IV: A New Hope,”
- “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back,” and
- “Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.”
12. “We’re doomed.” — C-3PO
How security teams often feel given the sophistication, automation and, sometimes, even government backing that attackers get today, as well as the scope of the attack surface they have to protect, versus the lack of funding, time, and visibility security teams have. But with the right attack surface protection on your side, it isn’t true.
11. “Hello, what have we here?” – Lando Calrissian
The response upon finding critical issues on assets in the CyCognito platform that you didn't know about before. In our research, we find that as much as 90% of the risk in an attack surface is associated with as few as 10 assets. The trick is finding those 10 assets, thus the sense of wonder when you do!
10. “Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things.” – Yoda
On attending to the less glamorous (to some, not us) aspects of security… with good reconnaissance, you can stop incidents before they start. That's much better than detecting a breach in progress and trying to respond to it, and correct it after the fact. So, while detection and response are exciting, prediction and prevention are where a good EASM Jedi should focus.
9. “She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid.” — Han Solo
How many security pros feel about the state of their attack surface protection, which is in sharp contrast with the reality ESG Research on EASM shows. Despite the self-evident criticality of attack surface protection, many organizations use an assortment of tools and manual processes bolted together like the Millennium Falcon. That makes the process fraught with operational complexity, human error, and best-guess analysis. Those challenges result in inefficient and costly processes. Given the stakes, it’s time to choose a more comprehensive solution built for the challenge.
8. “You must unlearn what you have learned.” - Yoda
Let’s face it, many of the tools for proactive security that are in use today, such as legacy ASM, penetration testing and vulnerability scanning are aging technology that is no longer suitable to a digitally transformed ecosystem. Protecting today’s expanded IT ecosystem requires rethinking how you tackle the problem, and looking at things from the attacker’s perspective.
