Meta Threat Intelligence

5 automated security scanners

Attack Surface Expansion Analytics

Purpose: The Attack Surface Expansion Analytics Scanner is designed to identify new attack vectors and technology convergence vulnerabilities by analyzing publicly available security documentation, policy pages, trust center information, and compliance certifications of a company. This tool helps organizations understand their digital footprint and potential areas of vulnerability more effectively.

What It Detects:

Security Policy Indicators: Identifies the presence or absence of key security policies such as “security policy,” “incident response,” “data protection,” and “access control.”
Maturity Indicators: Evaluates the maturity of security practices by looking for compliance certifications like SOC 2, ISO 27001, penetration testing, and vulnerability scanning/assessment.
Technology Convergence Vulnerabilities: Detects mentions of emerging technologies or convergence points that could introduce new vulnerabilities (e.g., IoT integration, cloud migration).
Third-Party Risk Management: Identifies references to third-party vendors, partners, and managed service providers in security contexts, indicating potential risk areas.
Incident Response Practices: Analyzes incident response procedures and policies for thoroughness and effectiveness in addressing new attack vectors.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)
company_name (string): Company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”)

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial as it helps organizations stay ahead of potential security threats by identifying areas where new vulnerabilities might emerge due to technology convergence or inadequate security policies. Understanding these gaps can help in formulating more robust cybersecurity strategies and enhancing overall security posture.

Risk Levels:

Critical: Conditions that pose a severe risk, potentially leading to significant data breaches or system failures.
High: Conditions that indicate high vulnerability, requiring immediate attention to prevent potential threats escalation.
Medium: Conditions where vulnerabilities are present but manageable with standard security measures.
Low: Informal findings that do not significantly impact the organization’s security posture but can be improved for better protection.
Info: General informational findings that provide insights into the company’s public disclosures without immediate risk or actionable items.

Example Findings:

A detected absence of a “security policy” could indicate inadequate foundational cybersecurity measures, posing a high risk if no alternative robust policies are in place.
The mention of uncertified third-party integrations might signal potential risks from unknown vulnerabilities or lack of due diligence by the company in managing external technology dependencies.

Exploitation Technique Transfer

Purpose: The Exploitation Technique Transfer Scanner is designed to identify the migration of exploitation techniques across different research fields and domains. It aims to detect cross-domain adaptation that could indicate emerging threats or strategic shifts in attack methodologies, thereby enhancing our understanding of potential vulnerabilities and security risks.

What It Detects:

Policy Indicators Analysis: Identifies mentions of security policies, incident response plans, data protection measures, and access controls within company documentation.
Maturity Indicators Detection: Detects references to compliance certifications such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, penetration testing, and vulnerability assessments.
Cross-Domain Technique Migration: Identifies the presence of techniques or methodologies from one domain being applied in another, indicating potential adaptation.
Research Field Overlap Detection: Detects overlaps between different research fields to identify shared techniques or methodologies.
Adaptation and Innovation Indicators: Identifies signs of innovation or adaptation in exploitation techniques, such as new methods or tools being introduced.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): The primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)
company_name (string): The company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”)

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial as it helps in identifying potential shifts in exploitation techniques that could indicate emerging threats or strategic changes in attack methodologies. Understanding these shifts can help organizations better prepare their security posture, mitigate risks, and adapt to new vulnerabilities more effectively.

Risk Levels:

Critical: The findings are critical if they reveal unauthorized access to sensitive information, significant system downtime, or other severe consequences.
High: High severity is indicated by the presence of known vulnerabilities without mitigation measures in place, which could lead to exploitation and data breaches.
Medium: Medium severity includes moderate risks such as unpatched systems or incomplete security policies that can be exploited with some effort but pose a significant risk if not addressed promptly.
Low: Low severity findings are those that require minimal attention unless they indicate potential future issues in less critical areas of the organization’s infrastructure.
Info: Informational findings provide general insights into the company’s security practices and can be used for strategic planning but do not directly impact immediate risk levels.

Example Findings:

The company has a mention of “incident response” in its privacy policy, indicating potential gaps in data protection measures that could lead to unauthorized access.
The organization references ISO 27001 compliance without providing details on specific security controls implemented, suggesting incomplete or misaligned security practices with international standards.

Vulnerability Class Emergence

Purpose: The Vulnerability Class Emergence Scanner is designed to proactively identify and assess emerging vulnerabilities and attack surfaces by thoroughly examining a company’s security documentation, public policy pages, trust center information, and compliance certifications. This tool helps organizations stay vigilant against rapidly evolving cyber threats and ensures that their cybersecurity measures are up-to-date with the latest industry standards.

What It Detects:

Security Policy Indicators: Identifies the presence or absence of key security policies such as “security policy,” “incident response,” “data protection,” and “access control.”
Maturity Indicators: Checks for compliance certifications like SOC 2, ISO 27001, penetration testing, and vulnerability scanning/assessment.
Novel Attack Surface Identification: Detects mentions of new or emerging attack vectors that may not be covered by existing security measures.
Compliance Documentation Review: Analyzes company documentation for adherence to industry standards and best practices in cybersecurity.
Trust Center Information Analysis: Evaluates trust center information for transparency regarding security practices, incident response capabilities, and data protection measures.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)
company_name (string): Company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”)

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial as it helps organizations anticipate and adapt to new security vulnerabilities, ensuring that their defenses are not only robust but also aligned with the latest threats in the cyber landscape. By staying ahead of emerging risks, companies can mitigate potential breaches and protect sensitive information more effectively.

Risk Levels:

Critical: The scanner identifies significant gaps in critical security policies or compliance certifications that directly affect the organization’s ability to respond to major cyber threats.
High: There are notable deficiencies in important security practices or protocols, which could lead to substantial risks if exploited by attackers.
Medium: Some areas of concern exist regarding security documentation and transparency, potentially impacting overall risk but not as severely as critical issues.
Low: Minor shortcomings that do not significantly impact the organization’s security posture but still warrant attention for continuous improvement.
Info: Informal findings related to minor details or suggestions for enhancements in cybersecurity practices that are less severe but contribute to a more secure environment.

Example Findings:

The company lacks a comprehensive “security policy” document, which could lead to inconsistencies and gaps in incident response procedures.
Compliance with ISO 27001 is lacking, indicating potential risks in data protection and information security management systems.

Security Research Conference Focus

Purpose: The Security Research Conference Focus Scanner is designed to analyze and interpret key themes, topics, and trends discussed at security research conferences, including call for papers (CFP) themes and research grant directions. This tool aims to help organizations stay informed about the latest vulnerabilities, defense mechanisms, and industry focus areas by identifying emerging technologies and cybersecurity threats.

What It Detects:

Talk Topics: Identifies prevalent discussions at security conferences concerning current threat landscapes, defensive strategies, and technological advancements such as malware evolution, zero-day vulnerabilities, and cloud security.
CFP Themes: Extracts themes from conference CFPs to understand emerging research areas and priorities, including cybersecurity trends, incident response, and artificial intelligence in security.
Research Grant Directions: Detects funding priorities in cybersecurity research grants, indicating strategic importance for areas like cyber defense innovation, quantum cryptography, ransomware attacks, phishing campaigns, and social engineering.
Emerging Technologies: Identifies discussions on new technologies and tools that are gaining traction in the security field, such as blockchain security, IoT vulnerabilities, and 5G network security.
Threat Intelligence Trends: Analyzes mentions of specific threats, attack vectors, and intelligence gathering methods to provide insights into evolving cyber threats like ransomware attacks, phishing campaigns, and social engineering techniques.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com) - This parameter is essential for the scanner to gather data from the specified conference or company website.
company_name (string): Company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”) - This input helps in refining search results to focus on relevant content related to the specific organization.

Business Impact: Staying informed about the latest cybersecurity trends and priorities is crucial for organizations to adapt their security strategies effectively. By leveraging this scanner, companies can make data-driven decisions that align with current threats and emerging technologies, enhancing overall cyber resilience.

Risk Levels:

Critical: The critical risk level pertains to conditions where there are direct vulnerabilities in the system or significant risks to business operations due to high impact findings such as zero-day vulnerabilities directly affecting core systems.
High: High severity risks involve substantial threats with potential for severe impacts, including emerging technologies that could be exploited by adversaries, like advanced malware or IoT vulnerabilities.
Medium: Medium risk levels indicate moderate threats and impacts, suitable for continuous monitoring and strategic planning to mitigate against potential issues in areas such as cybersecurity trends and incident response.
Low: Low severity risks are those with minimal impact on operations but provide valuable information for awareness and educational purposes, like discussions around blockchain security or social engineering techniques.
Info: Informational findings offer insights into emerging topics without immediate risk but contribute to a broader understanding of the cybersecurity landscape.

If specific risk levels are not detailed in the README, they have been inferred based on the purpose and impact of each detection point.

Example Findings: The scanner might flag themes such as “malware evolution” indicating a significant threat that requires immediate attention to update defenses, or “cloud security” highlighting an emerging technology area where investments could be beneficial for future resilience.

Technology Exploitation Cycles

Purpose: The Technology Exploitation Cycles Scanner is designed to analyze how quickly technology adoption by a company is followed by adequate security measures. It aims to identify gaps in addressing emerging threats, which can lead to potential vulnerabilities if the necessary precautions are not promptly taken.

What It Detects:

Policy Indicators Absence: The scanner checks for missing or outdated security policies and verifies the presence of incident response plans, data protection frameworks, and access control mechanisms.
Maturity Indicator Absence: It tests for SOC 2 compliance certification, ISO 27001 certification, penetration testing records, and vulnerability scanning or assessment documentation.
Technology Adoption vs. Exploitation Lag: The scanner identifies new technologies adopted by the company without corresponding security measures, analyzes recent technology rollouts and their associated risk management strategies, compares public disclosures of vulnerabilities with internal adoption timelines, and evaluates the presence of mitigation plans for newly adopted technologies.
Public Policy Pages Analysis: It reviews public policy pages for comprehensive security commitments, detailed incident response procedures, publicly accessible data protection policies, and transparent access control measures.
Trust Center Information Evaluation: The scanner assesses trust center information for thoroughness in security practices, evaluates the presence of third-party audits or certifications, reviews vulnerability disclosure policies and processes, and confirms transparency in reporting security incidents and remediation efforts.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)
company_name (string): Company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”)

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial as it helps in assessing the cybersecurity posture of a company by identifying gaps between technology adoption and corresponding security measures. These gaps can lead to significant vulnerabilities that might be exploited, affecting both the organization’s reputation and its critical infrastructure.

Risk Levels:

Critical: The presence of new technologies without documented security measures or outdated policies significantly impacting critical systems.
High: Inadequate incident response plans, lack of data protection frameworks, or unclear access control mechanisms that could lead to high-risk scenarios.
Medium: Somewhat outdated policies or missing maturity indicators like SOC 2 certification which might still pose a significant risk but not as severe as critical issues.
Low: Informal security practices and minimal public disclosures indicating lower inherent risks in the technology adoption cycle.
Info: Minimal to no impact on cybersecurity, with sufficient documentation and compliance measures in place that do not significantly affect the organization’s security posture.

Example Findings:

A company has adopted a new software without updating its data protection policy, posing a medium risk of unauthorized access due to lack of up-to-date controls.
The absence of an incident response plan and public vulnerability disclosure policies indicate critical risks in handling potential cyber threats effectively.