Bugcrowd offers crowdsourced security testing through a community of white hat hackers. CyCognito offers automated discovery of an organization’s externally exposed attack surface. Combined, the two solutions allow for a comprehensive inventory of exposed assets to be included in the scope of bug bounties or pentests.

When Benjamin Bachmann became the Vice President of Group Information Security at Ströer, two years ago, he encountered a significant challenge: the company lacked a comprehensive understanding of its external-facing assets. Ströer is a leading German media conglomerate with diverse operations spanning over 100 subsidiaries, each managing its own IT department, complicating the task of managing cybersecurity across such a diversified portfolio.

While tech sector media coverage on cybersecurity has primarily focused in recent years on trends such as ransomware attacks, vulnerabilities in the DevOps chain, and the growing role of AI in combating threats, a quiet but significant development has been advancing under the radar on several fronts: we refer to the more assertive stance taken by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to elevate security best practices in government and the private sector.

Every organization must prioritize the security of its systems and the protection of its customers’ sensitive information, but exposure doesn’t only happen through applications your own team develops and controls. Incidents like the recent exposure of customer data by Juniper Networks serve as stark reminders of the challenges and risks associated with managing the exposure of software, hardware, and services that you use.