In today’s digital landscape, organizations face an ever-evolving and increasingly sophisticated array of cyber threats. Traditional security measures, such as periodic security assessments or “photographs,” are no longer sufficient in identifying and mitigating these risks effectively. To combat these challenges, the recent InterVision Security Summit featured, “Continuous Pen Testing“, a webinar with Darren Manners, co-founder of Red Spy 365, who presented a groundbreaking approach to offensive security testing. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the key insights and takeaways from this informative session.
The Evolution of Security Testing:
Darren Manners, a Navy intelligence veteran and co-founder of Red Spy 365, shared his vision of transforming penetration testing from a static “photograph” to a dynamic “movie” model. Traditional penetration testing often occurs infrequently, leaving organizations vulnerable to continuous threats. The offensive security approach involves emulating the tactics, techniques, and tools used by malicious actors, ensuring that security defenses are like “onions” with multiple layers of protection.
Continuous Testing in the Face of Ever-Present Threats:
One of the central points of the webinar was the necessity of continuous security testing. The time between vulnerability discovery and exploitation has dramatically decreased, highlighting the need for an ongoing assessment of security. Red Spy 365 uses a Baseline approach to continuously test changes both internally and externally, adapting to evolving threats. This approach combines human analysts with bots, optimizing security testing for repetitive and interpretive actions.
Leveraging Threat Intelligence and AI:
Red Spy 365 integrates threat intelligence from sources like Intel 471 to identify vulnerabilities, exploit statuses, credential dumps, and potential breaches. Artificial intelligence, known as Trinity, assists in compliance assessments by answering questions based on uploaded policies and procedures. Business intelligence adds context by mapping risks to business processes, helping prioritize security efforts.
Modular Design and Creativity:
The modular design of Red Spy 365 allows for the integration of best-of-breed security tools to stay current with evolving threats. In the offensive security community, adaptability and creativity are essential. Red Spy 365 encourages diverse approaches in security testing, emphasizing the importance of being creative when facing new challenges.
Key Takeaways for Your Security Strategy:
The webinar provided actionable steps for organizations looking to enhance their security strategies:
- Specialization and Collaboration: Specialization and collaboration with various vendors are crucial for showing impact in offensive security.
- Continuous Comparison: Continuously compare new content to client risk to stay updated and understand emerging risks.
- Building an Ecosystem: Create an ecosystem that can absorb new content and map it to the client’s data set to improve effectiveness.
- Client Engagement: Foster client engagement through Cadence calls and integration into ticketing systems.
- Reward System: Implement a reward system for adding content to the ecosystem to encourage contributions and engagement.
- Orchestrator Efficiency: Utilize an orchestrator to integrate and coordinate various tools and processes efficiently.
- The Marketplace: The Marketplace introduces crowdsource content and challenges to enhance engagement and effectiveness.
- Blockchain Security: Content is packaged as NFTs and stored in a blockchain, ensuring security and controlled access.
- Education and Training: Red Spy Academy offers training and education for users to stay up-to-date with the latest security practices.
- Future Roadmap: Keep an eye on Red Spy 365’s roadmap, which includes advanced features and integration into offensive security.
The InterVision Security Summit’s webinar with Darren Manners provided invaluable insights into the evolution of security testing. To stay ahead of the ever-present threat of cyberattacks, organizations must transition from periodic assessments to continuous testing in their security strategies. By embracing specialization, collaboration, and creative approaches, businesses can better protect their digital assets and maintain a robust security posture in our rapidly changing digital world.
