Quick Answer: External attack surface management (EASM) services continuously discover and monitor all internet-facing assets — subdomains, cloud storage, APIs, and third-party integrations — identifying misconfigurations, exposed credentials, and unpatched CVEs before attackers find them. EASM is delivered as a retainer with weekly automated scans and monthly risk reports.
The Problem: You Can’t Protect What You Don’t Know About
The average enterprise has thousands of internet-facing assets — subdomains, exposed APIs, legacy portals, misconfigured cloud storage, and third-party services — most of which the security team has never inventoried. Attackers use automated reconnaissance tools to find these forgotten assets and exploit them. External Attack Surface Management (EASM) flips that dynamic: you discover your exposure before they do.
What Is External Attack Surface Management?
EASM is the continuous process of discovering, inventorying, analysing, and remediating all internet-facing assets associated with your organisation. Unlike point-in-time penetration testing, EASM provides ongoing visibility as your attack surface changes — new cloud deployments, developer test environments, acquired companies, and third-party integrations all expand your exposure in real time.
What Does eShield’s EASM Service Cover?
Asset Discovery
- Subdomain enumeration (passive + active)
- IP range and ASN mapping
- Cloud asset discovery (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Certificate transparency log analysis
- Third-party and SaaS shadow IT identification
Exposure Analysis
- Open port and service enumeration
- Exposed admin panels and management interfaces
- Unpatched CVEs on internet-facing services
- Misconfigured S3/Azure Blob/GCS storage
- Leaked credentials and API keys in public repositories
- Expired SSL certificates and weak TLS configurations
Continuous Monitoring
Your attack surface changes daily. New subdomains, cloud instances, and SaaS integrations appear constantly. eShield’s EASM service provides weekly or monthly reassessment to catch new exposures as they emerge — not six months later.
Risk-Prioritised Remediation
Not every finding is equal. We prioritise issues by exploitability, business impact, and exposure duration — so your team focuses on the highest-risk items first rather than chasing low-severity noise.
Who Benefits from EASM Services?
- Enterprises with large, distributed infrastructure across multiple cloud providers
- Companies that have grown through acquisition (inherited unknown assets)
- Organisations with active development teams constantly deploying new services
- MSSPs looking to add continuous monitoring to client engagements
- Businesses preparing for ISO 27001, SOC 2, or government security frameworks
Learn more about our External Attack Surface Management service or read about Penetration Testing as a complementary service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is EASM the same as vulnerability scanning?
No. Vulnerability scanning requires you to already know your assets. EASM begins with discovery — finding assets you don’t know exist. It includes vulnerability scanning as one component, but the value lies in the continuous discovery layer.
How often does eShield reassess the attack surface?
Our standard EASM retainer includes weekly automated discovery scans and a monthly human-reviewed risk report. We can increase cadence for organisations with high-velocity deployments.
Can EASM help with supply chain risk?
Yes — EASM can identify third-party assets connected to your brand (partner portals, shared subdomains, API integrations) that may introduce risk. This is particularly relevant for digital supply chain risk management and vendor due diligence.
Contact us to discuss a custom EASM engagement for your organisation.
