Automated Security Control Assessment (ASCA): How It Works, Benefits & Limitations

Automated Security Control Assessment (ASCA) solutions automatically assess and identify misconfigurations and security control gaps. ASCA tools integrate with the rest of an organization’s security architecture via APIs, providing insight into existing security controls and enabling them to launch simulated attacks and automatically perform remediation. 

How ASCA Works

ASCA platforms streamline and automate the process of identifying configuration issues and control gaps that place an organization at risk. They accomplish this through a combination of automated scanning, simulated attacks, and risk-based prioritization of identified issues. Results are updated and reported continuously to provide up-to-date data for security teams.

Discovery & Scope Definition

An ASCA deployment begins by defining the scope of the environment to be assessed. This includes determining which systems are within scope and the various security controls that should be tested. Additionally, the organization should map out the critical assets and business processes that are within the scope of the audit. This aids in prioritizing any misconfigurations and control gaps identified during the assessment.

Automated Control Testing Methods

ASCA solutions automatically assess the effectiveness of an organization’s security controls via simulated, non-destructive attacks. This begins by determining potential threats to the assets within scope using tools such as MITRE ATT&CK, the OWASP Top Ten, and regulatory requirements.

ASCA tools perform continuous monitoring and scanning using the tools and attack methodologies identified based on this information. This allows them to identify misconfigurations and control gaps that place the organization at risk or threaten regulatory non-compliance.

Reporting & Remediation Loops

After performing discovery and scanning, the ASCA solution has a list of identified issues that it prioritizes based on associated risk and business impacts. This list, along with recommended remediation actions, is reported and updated in real time, enabling teams to properly prioritize their efforts.

The constant monitoring provided by ASCA enables security teams to automatically test remediation actions and pursue continuous improvement. If a new control fails to address an issue or doesn’t cover all potential cases, the tool will provide visibility into this fact and recommend additional actions.

Key Business Benefits

ASCA automates the tedious tasks of identifying misconfigurations and control gaps, enabling continuous monitoring and up-to-date security visibility. Some of the key benefits that these platforms offer to an organization include the following:

• Reduced Risk Exposure: ASCA solutions identify, prioritize, and offer recommended remediation actions for misconfigurations and control gaps. This allows security teams to more quickly address these issues and reduce the organization’s exposure to cyberattacks.
• Greater Visibility: ASCA platforms perform continuous monitoring and risk prioritization. This provides up-to-date visibility into an organization’s risk exposure and eliminates the operational impacts of stale data.
• Enhanced Efficiency: ASCA tools automatically perform critical security functions, such as scanning, attack simulation, and risk prioritization. This increases the efficiency of security teams by decreasing the amount of manual labor involved in risk and configuration management.
• Improved Accuracy: ASCA automates the process of testing for security risks and identifying control gaps. By doing so, it reduces the risk of human error and provides more consistent visibility into the organization’s security posture.
• Optimized Remediation: ASCA solutions prioritize identified issues based on the potential risk that they pose to the business. This allows security teams to maximize the ROI of remediation efforts by addressing the most significant threats first.
• Streamlined Compliance: ASCA tools identify misconfigurations and compliance gaps that threaten an organization’s regulatory compliance. Rapidly addressing these gaps protects compliance and reduces the risk of a reportable data breach or other security incident.
• Continuous Improvement: ASCA platforms run scans regularly, including both before and after any remediation actions are taken. This enables security teams to evaluate, tune, and optimize the impact of implemented security controls.

Common Limitations & How to Mitigate Them

While ASCA tools can provide significant benefits to an organization, their effectiveness can be reduced if they are not designed, implemented, and deployed correctly. Some common challenges that organizations face when deploying ASCA platforms include the following:

• False Positive Detections: ASCA tools may generate false positive detections where they identify security gaps that don’t pose a real risk to the business. Human review, business context, and integration with the organization’s security stack can help to manage this risk.
• Integration Complexity: ASCA platforms integrate with an organization’s security stack via APIs, which can be complex and time-consuming for complicated infrastructures and manual integration. Solutions with out-of-the-box integrations for common security solutions reduce integration complexity.
• Zero-Day Attacks: ASCA solutions look for known threats, potentially causing them to miss novel attacks. Regular scanning and rapid remediation of identified risks reduces an organization’s risk of exploitation via zero-day attack campaigns.
• Bypasses and Evasions: ASCA tools look for known threats and techniques, but attackers may develop new methods designed to slip through the cracks and evade detection. ASCA platforms should be connected to threat intelligence feeds and up-to-date security tools to maximize the effectiveness of their threat modeling and attack simulation capabilities.
• Management Overhead: Initial deployment and ongoing management of an ASCA solution can be resource-intensive. This can be offset by cost-benefit analysis and the increased efficiency provided by using ASCA to automate common tasks.

Where ASCA Fits in a Modern Stack

ASCA plays a critical role in an organization’s Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) program. CTEM is a holistic approach to risk management across the organization’s entire IT environment, and ASCA provides invaluable visibility into an organization’s exposure to top threats due to misconfigurations and control gaps.

An ASCA platform integrates with numerous solutions within an organization’s security architecture to provide the visibility and control needed to perform its role. With visibility into an organization’s deployed security controls and responses to common threats, ASCA solutions can identify gaps that leave the organization vulnerable. Additionally, API-based integration can be used to automatically launch scans and automated attacks that are critical to testing these defenses and providing the required visibility.

Advancing Your CTEM Program with IONIX

CTEM is a modern approach to risk management, providing a risk-centric viewpoint into an organization’s current security posture. By automatically simulating attacks, performing scans, and identifying control gaps and misconfigurations, ASCA platforms play a crucial role in an overall CTEM program.

IONIX Continuous Threat Exposure Management provides continuous risk visibility and management. Threats are automatically detected and prioritized based on business context and the risk that they pose to the organization, enabling security teams to focus their resources and efforts on the areas that need them most. Learn more about how IONIX can help your organization to mature its CTEM program and reduce its exposure to top cyber threats by signing up for a free demo.