What Are Digital Risk Protection Services (DRPS)?

What is Digital Risk Protection (DRP)? 

Digital risk protection is the process of identifying and mitigating external threats to an organization’s brand and assets. By monitoring threat actor activity, DRP solutions enable security teams to identify spoofed domains, breached credentials, and other high-risk assets outside the organization’s network perimeter.

How Does DRPS Work?

DRP platforms use multiple reconnaissance methods to identify and track potential threats in real-time. They use automation to look for external assets that have suspicious characteristics. 

For example, imagine an unknown internet user registers a website combining your company name with an internationalized domain name. It might look exactly like your real website, except for an easily overlooked discrepancy in the URL. This represents a huge risk to your users, who may accidentally login to the spoofed website and send their login credentials directly to threat actors.

However, most enterprise security tools are not designed to look for external threats. They primarily look for evidence of threat actor activity inside networks.

DRPS provides continuous monitoring against external risks that can jeopardize your organization’s security posture. By implementing the solution as a managed service, your organization can benefit from proactive security without having to commit in-house resources to the task.

Threat Intelligence vs. DRPS

At first glance, DRPS looks similar to conventional threat intelligence. However, the two are distinct cybersecurity solutions:

• Threat intelligence focuses on classifying observed network behavior according to the latest patterns of threat actor activities. It provides up-to-date indicators of compromise that tell security analysts what the latest attacks might look like on their network.

• DRPS looks for external assets that contribute to security risk. These include things like data leaks, fraud campaigns, and fake accounts linked to executive leaders. None of these are typically included in a threat intelligence context. 

What Kinds of Threats Does DRPS Protect Against?

Digital risk protection services are designed to enhance visibility into external assets that can impact your security risk profile. Threat actors use a variety of tools to plan and execute their attacks. Gaining insight into these external assets helps IT leaders prepare for sophisticated cyberattacks.

Here are some of the threats that DRPS helps organizations defend themselves against:

• Phishing attacks. This is the most common attack vector used by hackers. Phishing indicators like registered domains, mail exchange record changes, and DNS reputation provide digital risk protection teams with the ability to identify and take down phishing sites.
• Executive account takeovers. Spear phishing targets high-value users and assets in an organization, like executive email inboxes. Digital risk protection services are vital for monitoring these assets against indicators of compromise.
• Dark Web leaks and sales. The Dark Web is a valuable source of information for hackers. Find out when your data is published on Dark Web forums and marketplaces so you can stay one step ahead of the next wave of attacks.
• Domain spoofing and fraud. Digital risk protection helps maintain the credibility and reputation of your brand. Receive alerts when threat actors create spoof login pages designed to look like your own, or register websites with close analogues to your brand name.
• Sensitive data leakage. Leaked data, credentials, and intellectual properties increase risk. Your digital risk partners inform you when data on your organization’s IT assets appear in data breach sets.
• Supply chain risks. Many organizations rely on an extensive network of third-party suppliers and vendors. Trusted connections expand the attack surface and lead to increased risk, even among otherwise secure partners and vendors.

Why Do Security Leaders Invest in DRPS?

DRPS addresses a crucial security gap that many organizations share. Security teams that only look at internal network activity may miss obvious signs of an impending attack coming from outside the network. Investing in DRPS helps security leaders mitigate risk by detecting incoming attacks early in the threat lifecycle.

Here are three of the most important reasons you might consider enhancing your organization’s security posture with DRPS: 

1. Map Your Digital Footprint

Before you can secure digital assets against threat actors, you must identify them. DRPS platforms allow security leaders to understand the organization’s digital footprint and corresponding ecosystem. They provide comprehensive information about exposed digital assets and the risks that come with them.

Some of the assets that you may uncover include:

• Open ports. 
• Misconfigured cloud infrastructure.
• Unpatched vulnerabilities.
• Shadow IT devices.
• Unused accounts with privileged access.

2. Enable Continuous Threat Monitoring

The DRPS workflow uses a two-pronged approach. One on end, your organization’s security capabilities are continuously rated for their strength against sophisticated threats. On the other, you dedicate resources to monitoring external threats that impact your security risk profile.

The first aspect of DRPS complements attack surface management. The process of systematically discovering, testing, and strengthening in-house IT assets is a core security practice.

The second part provides context and visibility into the types of threats your organization faces. This allows you to dedicate resources towards addressing the most severe threats first.

3. Proactively Mitigate Risks and Report on Performance

The objective of DRPS is catching and mitigating threats before they have a chance to impact the organization. Deploying DRPS through a managed service vendor provides security leaders with comprehensive ongoing coverage and access to scalable resources for quickly taking down high-risk assets.

Threat takedown capabilities vary between threats. Convincing an internet service provider to stop hosting an obvious spoof website is much easier than tracking down an anonymous user on a Dark Web marketplace. Each of these use cases demands resources and specialist expertise that most enterprise security teams do not have on-hand.

Extend Digital Risk Protection Across Your Organization with Novawatch

Novawatch simplifies the process of identifying, analyzing, and mitigating external risks. Our team of digital risk experts can help you see your organization the way threat actors do. Gain insight into the risks impacting your users and take action against hackers who leverage your brand to launch attacks on victims. Talk to a digital risk expert to find out how Novawatch can help.