There’s a reason why athletes simulate big match conditions when they play in a runup to a tournament and why actors do dress rehearsals before opening night. The closer you can get to what it feels like during an event, the better prepared you can be in case anything goes wrong.
That’s exactly the thinking behind breach and attack simulation (BAS) exercises when it comes to cybersecurity. BAS is an advanced computer security testing method used to identify vulnerabilities in security environments ‘by mimicking the likely attack paths and techniques used by malicious actors.’ What you want to do during BAS is to mimic real threat actions very closely in order to determine if they are caught by your security controls, when the real event takes place. What kind of threat actions? Anything from placing harmless malware lookalikes on the system to receiving ‘malicious’ emails. Another interesting example is a Web Application Firewall simulation that tries to trick the web server into revealing information or performing some kind of forbidden action.
It goes without saying that none of these attacks should contain any ability to cause harm. They look and perform as real as can be, without carrying a ‘viral load’ of any kind.
BAS sounds quite similar to penetration testing, which is another very valuable tool of cybersecurity but the difference is in methodology. While pen testing is done by individual experts in the field, BAS operates automatically, often running thousands of simulated attacks per day in order to report any flaws in the system in real-time.
(Read our earlier blog post on pen testing)
New threats emerge constantly and it’s not unusual for companies to endure thousands of attacks in a specific period of time. It doesn’t take long for security to be breached and when it happens, the consequences can be devastating. Ongoing, automated testing must be a priority in today’s very threatening cyber environment. There’s a peace of mind and security from knowing that the security controls you put in place are working effectively and doing what they should be doing.
BAS is an important tool for a security firm like 2-SEC, because it allows us to test all of the security controls within your environment at no impact to your end-users, and without requiring extensive cybersecurity knowledge on your behalf.
If you’re ready to make breach and attack simulations an integral part of your cybersecurity portfolio, then get in touch with 2-SEC today, and we’ll set the process in motion!