ASCA Testing Methods: Frameworks, Tools & Best Practices

Automated Security Control Assessment (ASCA) tools provide visibility into an organization’s security misconfigurations and control gaps via policy review and simulated attacks. Identified issues are prioritized based on business impacts and reported to security teams alongside suggested remediation actions.

ASCA solutions are designed to enhance an organization’s understanding of its risk exposure via real-time insights. These insights are collected in various ways, including policy-based approaches and attack simulations.

Policy-Based vs. Attack-Simulation Approaches

ASCA solutions identify gaps between where an organization’s security posture is and where it should be. Two key methods for accomplishing this are:

• Policy-Based Reviews: Policy-based testing compares an organization’s existing control set against regulatory requirements or common standards. These reviews help to identify misconfigurations or missing controls that could result in non-compliance or that violate corporate security policies.
• Attack Simulation: Attack simulations, on the other hand, are intended to gauge the effectiveness of an organization’s security architecture against top security threats. These tests simulate the behavior of a real-world attacker to see if the organization’s existing control set provides adequate protection against the attacks that it is most likely to face.

Key Frameworks

ASCA tools commonly use predefined frameworks to perform their simulated attacks or conduct policy-based reviews. Some of the most significant frameworks include:

• MITRE ATT&CK: The MITRE ATT&CK framework details the various tools and techniques that attackers can use to complete the various stages of the cyberattack lifecycle and achieve their end goals. This framework is commonly used to plan simulated attacks since it details how these attacks could be carried out and the specific techniques used by top cyber threat actors.
• NIST 800-53: NIST 800-53 is a U.S. government standard that details the security and privacy controls that should be in place on federal information systems. This can be used for policy-based analysis or in combination with tools like MITRE ATT&CK to determine the effectiveness of required controls against real-world threats.
• CIS Controls: The Center for Internet Security (CIS) Critical Security Controls is an industry framework defining the most important security controls that organizations should implement to protect against top cyber threats. Like NIST 800-53, this can be used for both a policy-based review and to help plan simulated attacks designed to assess the organization’s existing control set.

Tool Selection Criteria

ASCA tools offer numerous benefits to an organization, but selecting the right tool is critical to maximize ROI. Some key selection criteria to consider when evaluating ASCA platforms include the following:

• Scope Definition: ASCA solutions should allow an organization to define the scope of the assessment. This should include support for all elements of an organization’s IT infrastructure, such as network, cloud, and endpoints.
• Framework Support: Organizations may deploy ASCA tools as part of their regulatory compliance efforts or to assess the effectiveness of their defenses against real-world attacks. Regardless of the motivation, a solution should support the organization’s choice of frameworks, regulations, and industry standards and be able to accurately identify control gaps between the requirements and reality.
• Customization: In addition to supporting desired frameworks, ASCA platforms should also offer the ability to customize the details of an assessment. This enables organizations to tailor their tests to their exact needs and maximize the benefit of the assessment to the organization.
• Automation: Automation is a key element of an ASCA solution, allowing security teams to perform tests as frequently as needed to provide up-to-date visibility. Ideally, a platform should perform continuous monitoring to ensure that security teams aren’t reliant on stale data for risk visibility.
• Reporting: ASCA platforms are designed to provide security teams with insight into their security gaps and recommendations for how to address them. Reports should be generated frequently and should be clear and actionable to simplify and streamline remediation efforts.
• Support and Updates: As regulations and cybercriminals’ tactics and techniques evolve, as ASCA tool’s scans and remediation guidance may become outdated. Regular updates are essential to ensure the usability and benefits of the provided reports.

Best Practices for Continuous Assessment

Continuous assessments ensure that security teams have up-to-date data and can focus their remediation efforts on the most significant threats to the business. Some key best practices include:

• Automate Assessments: Risk data is most valuable when it’s up-to-date, which requires continuous assessments. Automating scanning and reporting protects against stale data.
• Integrate with Other Solutions: ASCA platforms connect to other security tools to assess controls and perform simulated attacks. The more integrations are in place, the more visibility the platform has.
• Focus Remediation Efforts: Attacks against different parts of the corporate IT environment pose varying levels of risk to the business. Intentionally define assessment scope and prioritize remediation efforts to maximize the effect on the organization’s exposure to cyber risk.
• Use Various Testing Methods: Automated scanning provides up-to-date visibility, but it may miss some threats. Combining it with penetration testing and other forms of assessment provides a more holistic approach to risk management.
• Stay Up-To-Date: Cyberattack tools and techniques evolve rapidly, and zero-day attacks are a significant threat. Staying up-to-date on the latest threats, regulations, and remediation actions helps to minimize cyber risk exposure.
• Document All Activities: Document assessment scopes, findings, and remediation actions. This aids regulatory compliance efforts and can help with incident response and continuous improvement efforts in the future.

Real-World Example

Firewalls are a foundational component of any organization’s security architecture. Firewall rules define which types of traffic are permitted to enter and leave the network, and next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) integrate various security capabilities to detect and remediate a wide range of cyber threats.

However, as rules are updated to block various attacks or allow certain types of traffic, it’s possible that these changes could introduce new vulnerabilities. For example, updating a more general rule that blocked various types of traffic to a more targeted one may result in undesirable traffic entering or leaving the network.

ASCA platforms can inspect firewall rules and simulate attacks to identify these types of control gaps. Anything that they find is included in a report alongside recommendations for how to remediate the issue.

Key Takeaways

ASCA solutions offer visibility into the misconfigurations and control gaps that place an organization at risk. This is accomplished via policy reviews and simulated attacks, both of which are guided by frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK, NIST 800-53, and the CIS Critical Security Controls.

ASCA plays a key role in an organization’s Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) program, which offers a holistic approach to risk identification and management within an organization. To learn more about CTEM and how the IONIX platform can help your organization to optimize its threat management, sign up for a free demo.