I know that not all businesses are aware of this, but there’s loads of data that is accessible about businesses - employee, client records, login credentials. If there’s a cyberattack or a breach, the data might've been placed in the dark web or used for stealing identities, accessing your business accounts, etc.

That was my experience, sadly. Although I worked in a small company, we handled sensitive customer information, making us a target for cybercriminals. Weak security practices (our databases lacked appropriate encryption and using old passwords without 2FA) caused the incident. Attackers gained access via phishing on an unpatched software vulnerability, which compromised the login credentials of an employee. They took private information like consumer records, bank activities, and we only noticed it when bogus transactions showed up and consumer information surfaced.

I know that this happens frequently these days, but nobody thinks it may be their workplace. I have started my own business since the accident, and I learned from last experience. It’s still a small team, but we deal with clients’ and employees’ data, so I decided to get threat protection software to avoid accidents and add a layer of security. This software is not as well known as a VPN for example, so here’s what it covers.

I did some research (I’ll leave a post on threat intelligence tools in the comments) and in the end got NordStellar, a threat exposure management platform that helps businesses detect and respond to cyber threats in time. It’s made for organizations to enhance cybersecurity for employees/customers by covering data breach monitoring, account takeover prevention, and session hijacking prevention, which is very handy to find in one product. Also, they do dark web monitoring for compromised employee and consumer credentials, allowing businesses to detect and address data leaks, which was the main selling point.

If your company’s data ends up on the dark web, there are many threats you could be facing. Hackers can use stolen login details to get into accounts, make fake transactions, or even pretend to be your employees, leading to security risks. Also, competitors may use this information against you, whether it’s stealing business ideas or damaging reputation. By scanning for sensitive information, your business real-time updates on external vulnerabilities and security incidents, ensuring timely response to minimize risks.

Apart from dark web monitoring, the other two features that made NordStellar stand out are advanced session hijacking protection feature and external vulnerability scanning. They are quite unique functionalities, but are handy in managing security in the business:

- Advanced session hijacking protection - a tool to trace compromised users and invalidate stolen session cookies, which stops unwanted access to sensitive data. The exterior attack surface management ensures that every possible entrance point is covered by constant scanning for weaknesses all around the network.

- External vulnerability scanning maps the company's attack surface and finds assets connected to your domains using DNS enumeration, CRT.sh scraping, and other automated techniques. Once vulnerabilities are discovered, the software assesses the degree and influence of every security flaw using CVSS v3, CVSS v2, and EPSS scoring methodologies.

Overall, I think businesses' cybersecurity is not discussed enough, even though there are solutions that enterprises can invest in. We all know the importance of a strong password and safe Wi-Fi, but this is an important extra step more businesses should consider. Take it from someone speaking from experience. Get acquainted with the data protection services available and invest in the cybersecurity of their employees and customers.

Do you have any experience with threat exposure management? How did you manage it, and what tools are you using to maintain it?