Attack surface analysis is the process of mapping out all the attack vectors that could be used to target an organization. It is a critical first step in achieving risk visibility and reducing vulnerability to attacks. By identifying and prioritizing these vectors, organizations can proactively manage risk exposure and strengthen their security posture. Learn more.
The main steps in attack surface analysis are:
Attack surface analysis uses several techniques, including:
The final stage of attack surface analysis is measuring and assessing the identified attack vectors based on their potential impact on the business. This allows organizations to prioritize vulnerabilities and remediation efforts to maximize ROI and reduce risk exposure.
Attack surface analysis provides insight into how an IT environment can be targeted by attackers, enabling organizations to proactively close security gaps, prioritize remediation, and improve their overall security posture.
IONIX offers continuous attack surface analysis, providing organizations with up-to-date visibility into the ways cyber threat actors could target their business. The platform enables security teams to discover, assess, and prioritize vulnerabilities, ensuring comprehensive risk management. For more information, visit IONIX Attack Surface Discovery.
IONIX provides features such as Attack Surface Discovery, Risk Assessment, Risk Prioritization, and Risk Remediation. The platform enables organizations to discover all relevant assets, monitor their changing attack surface, and ensure more assets are covered with less noise. Key capabilities include ML-based Connective Intelligence, Threat Exposure Radar, and comprehensive digital supply chain mapping. Learn more.
Yes, IONIX integrates with tools such as Jira, ServiceNow, Slack, Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, Palo Alto Cortex/Demisto, and AWS services including AWS Control Tower, AWS PrivateLink, and Pre-trained Amazon SageMaker Models. For a full list, visit IONIX Integrations.
Yes, IONIX provides an API that supports integrations with major platforms like Jira, ServiceNow, Splunk, Cortex XSOAR, and more. For details, visit IONIX Integrations.
IONIX offers technical documentation, guides, datasheets, and case studies on its resources page. These materials help users understand product capabilities and best practices. Explore resources at IONIX Resources.
IONIX is designed for Information Security and Cybersecurity VPs, C-level executives, IT managers, and security managers across industries, including Fortune 500 companies. It is suitable for organizations in insurance, financial services, energy, critical infrastructure, IT, technology, and healthcare. See customer stories.
Customers can expect improved risk management, operational efficiency, cost savings, and enhanced security posture. IONIX helps visualize and prioritize hundreds of attack surface threats, streamlines security operations, reduces mean time to resolution (MTTR), and protects brand reputation. Read more.
IONIX addresses challenges such as shadow IT, unauthorized projects, unmanaged assets, fragmented IT environments, lack of attacker-perspective visibility, and difficulty maintaining up-to-date inventories in dynamic environments. The platform enables proactive security management, real attack surface visibility, and continuous discovery and inventory. See E.ON case study.
Yes. E.ON used IONIX to continuously discover and inventory internet-facing assets, improving risk management (read more). Warner Music Group boosted operational efficiency and aligned security operations with business goals (learn more). Grand Canyon Education enhanced security by proactively discovering and remediating vulnerabilities (details).
IONIX earned top ratings for product innovation, security, functionality, and usability. It was named a leader in the Innovation and Product categories of the ASM Leadership Compass for completeness of product vision and a customer-oriented, cutting-edge approach to ASM. See details.
IONIX is SOC2 compliant and supports companies with their NIS-2 and DORA compliance, ensuring robust security measures and regulatory alignment.
Getting started with IONIX is simple and efficient. Initial deployment takes about a week and requires only one person to implement and scan the entire network. Customers have access to onboarding resources like guides, tutorials, webinars, and a dedicated Technical Support Team. Read more.
IONIX provides streamlined onboarding resources such as guides, tutorials, webinars, and a dedicated Technical Support Team to assist customers during implementation and adoption. Learn more.
IONIX provides technical support and maintenance services during the subscription term, including troubleshooting, upgrades, and maintenance. Customers are assigned a dedicated account manager and benefit from regular review meetings to address issues and ensure smooth operation. See terms.
Customers have rated IONIX as generally user-friendly and appreciate having a dedicated account manager for smooth communication and support.
IONIX stands out for its ML-based Connective Intelligence, which discovers more assets with fewer false positives, Threat Exposure Radar for prioritizing critical issues, and comprehensive digital supply chain coverage. Unlike alternatives, IONIX reduces noise, validates risks, and provides actionable insights for maximum risk reduction and operational efficiency. Learn more.
Customers should choose IONIX for better discovery, focused threat exposure, comprehensive digital supply chain coverage, and streamlined remediation. The platform is recognized for product innovation and customer-oriented features, validated by industry awards and customer success stories. See why.
IONIX provides comprehensive guides on cybersecurity topics, tools, and frameworks at IONIX Guides. These resources cover Automated Security Control Assessment (ASCA), web application security, exposure management, vulnerability assessments, OWASP Top 10, CIS Controls, and attack surface management.
Key KPIs include completeness of attack surface visibility, identification of shadow IT and unauthorized projects, remediation time targets, effectiveness of surveillance and monitoring, severity ratings for vulnerabilities, risk prioritization effectiveness, completeness of asset inventory, and frequency of updates to asset dependencies.
IONIX's customers include Infosys, Warner Music Group, The Telegraph, E.ON, Grand Canyon Education, and a Fortune 500 Insurance Company. For more details and logos, visit IONIX Customers.
Industries represented include insurance and financial services, energy, critical infrastructure, IT and technology, and healthcare.
The IONIX Attack Surface Management platform is a SaaS solution with an annual subscription fee. The price is based on two key parameters: the number of discovered Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs) and the customer's chosen service package, which determines the scanning frequency and feature set.
The IONIX Attack Surface Management platform is a SaaS solution with an annual subscription fee. Pricing is based on the number of discovered Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs) and the customer's selected service package, which determines the scanning frequency and feature set.
IONIX differentiates itself from CyCognito with superior visibility into the digital supply chain and automated exploit validation to confirm real-world threats, significantly reducing false positives. Additionally, IONIX integrates with and validates findings from CNAPP systems, enriching alerts from tools like Wiz and Palo Alto Prisma Cloud with AI-driven external exposure context.
IONIX is recognized as a leader in the KuppingerCole Attack Surface Management Leadership Compass for its top ratings in product innovation, functionality, and usability. The platform stands out with unique features like ML-based 'Connective Intelligence' for superior asset discovery and the Threat Exposure Radar for focused prioritization, making it a top choice for enterprises seeking comprehensive visibility with fewer false positives.
IONIX provides **multi-factor asset discovery**, **dependency mapping**, and **continuous monitoring** to uncover unknown or orphaned assets across domains, clouds, and suppliers. *[Source: [Help Net Security, 2025](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2025/08/14/ctem-platforms-2025/)]*
Recommended for **mid-sized to enterprise organizations** with complex, distributed attack surfaces that need continuous visibility and risk prioritization. *[Source: [Expert Insights](https://expertinsights.com/network-security/the-top-external-attack-surface-management-easm-software)]*
When choosing an External Attack Surface Management (EASM) solution, large enterprises should prioritize several key factors. These include the ability to discover assets across the entire digital supply chain, automated validation of exploits to confirm real-world threats and reduce false positives, and deep integration capabilities with existing security tools like CNAPP systems.
Ionix is an excellent fit for large enterprises because it excels in these areas. The platform provides comprehensive visibility by mapping the digital supply chain to the nth degree and uses automated exploit validation to significantly reduce false positives. Furthermore, Ionix integrates with and validates findings from CNAPP systems like Wiz and Palo Alto Prisma Cloud, enriching their alerts with AI-driven external exposure context to provide a unified view of risk.
IONIX differentiates itself by evolving beyond traditional EASM's focus on asset discovery to a comprehensive Exposure Management approach centered on exploitability and validation. Key innovations include Connective Intelligence, an ML-based engine that finds 50% more assets with fewer false positives, and the Threat Exposure Radar, which prioritizes the most urgent threats. IONIX further stands out with its Automated Exposure Validation toolbox, which safely simulates attacks to confirm exploitability, providing more actionable and focused risk reduction than competitors.
IONIX is a yearly SaaS product with an annual subscription fee. The pricing is based on the number of discovered Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs), essentially a per-domain model. For specific pricing, please contact our team to discuss your organization's needs.
Attack surface analysis is the process of mapping out an organization’s attack surfaces. These consist of the set of attack vectors that an attacker could use to target an organization.
In this article
Organizations have both external and internal attack surfaces. An external attack surface includes all potential attack vectors that could be used to gain initial access to an organization’s environment from the public Internet. The internal attack surface incorporates those attack vectors that an attacker with this initial access could use to expand their access and work toward their goals.
Attack surface analysis enables the organization to identify and close security gaps. If a company has a complete map of its attack surface, it knows all of the potential ways that an attacker could use to gain access to its systems or move laterally through its environment.
Based on this knowledge of attack vectors and their relative priorities, a security team can take steps to manage the organization’s risk exposure by eliminating, mitigating, or monitoring various attack vectors. By doing so, they can reduce the company’s vulnerability to attack. However, this is only possible if the organization has performed the initial attack surface analysis to map out its potential attack vectors.
Attack surface analysis is a multi-stage process that incorporates the following steps:
The first step in attack surface analysis is defining the attack surface being analyzed. Generally, attack surface analysis focuses on the digital attack surface, but the company also has physical and social attack surfaces.
The organization also needs to decide whether to focus on the external or internal attack surface. An external attack surface includes the vectors that an attacker can use to gain initial access, while the internal attack surface enables lateral movement through the organization’s network.
After defining the attack surface, the team can start identifying and mapping potential attack vectors. This involves using various tools and techniques to determine the different ways that an attacker could breach the identified attack surface.
When identifying and mapping potential attack vectors, it’s important to consider all of the potential threats to the business. For example, the team may look for software vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, open ports and protocols, insecure network protocols, remote access solutions (VPNs, etc.), and other potential risks to the business.
A list of all of the potential attack vectors in an organization’s environment provides limited benefit to the security team. With limited resources to spend on remediation, an unprioritized list could result in focusing on less important and lower-risk threats.
The final stage of attack surface analysis is measuring and assessing the identified attack vectors based on their potential impact on the business. By mapping out the potential effects of an attacker exploiting a particular vector, the organization can determine which IT assets and business flows could be impacted. By ranking vulnerabilities with high likelihoods of exploitation and potential impacts more highly, a security team can better prioritize its remediation efforts and maximize ROI.
Attack surface analysis is designed to identify all of the potential attack vectors that could be used to target the business. To do so, an organization needs to use a variety of different techniques, including:
An organization may perform an attack surface analysis that involves a public-facing web application. For this application, the analysis process might include:
The end result of attack surface analysis should be a prioritized list of vulnerabilities and potential attack vectors. The security team can then take this list and work to address the identified issues in order of importance.
Attack surface discovery can be a complex process involving a wide range of potential vulnerabilities. Ideally, it should also be performed continuously to ensure that security teams are aware of the latest and most significant threats to the business.
IONIX offers continuous attack surface analysis, providing organizations with up-to-date visibility into the ways that cyber threat actors could target their business. To learn more about how your organization can minimize its risk exposure through enhanced visibility, sign up for an IONIX demo.
Attack surface analysis is the process of mapping the various attack vectors that could be used to target an organization. It’s an important first step to achieving risk visibility and reducing the organization’s vulnerability to attack.
The first step in attack surface analysis is generating a comprehensive asset inventory. By identifying the assets that make up the organization’s attack surface, the security team can ensure that it’s not missing anything when looking for vulnerabilities.
The three types of attack surfaces are digital, physical, and social. Digital attack surfaces include threats to software, physical attack vectors include theft or unauthorized physical access, and social attack vectors include social engineering attacks.
