Asset Inventory (Shadow IT)

You can only protect what you know. "Shadow IT" – systems outside of IT control – is a massive security risk, as they are often not patched and have no security guardrails.

Your Strategy

Implement continuous, automated External Attack Surface Management (EASM). Use cloud-native tools and external scanners to capture and evaluate new instances, endpoints, and shadow infrastructure immediately after they are created.

Best Practices

▸Auto-Discovery: Use tools that continuously scan the internet for your IP range and your domains.
▸Tagging: Enforce tags in the cloud (owner, purpose, criticality) for every asset at the time of deployment.
▸Hygiene: Disable unused ports and delete test systems automatically after defined periods.

STRIDE-LM Design Risks

SpoofingS-01

Identity Spoofing

Attacker impersonates a legitimate user or partner.

TamperingT-GOV-01

Policy Drift & Shadow Configurations

Unnoticed deviation from security standards.

RepudiationR-01

Audit Log Manipulation

Deleting or altering traces of an action.

Information DisclosureI-01

Sensitive Data Exposure

Unintentional disclosure of internal information to externals.

Denial of ServiceD-01

Resource Exhaustion

Overloading systems through massive requests or resource hogging.

Elevation of PrivilegeE-01

Privilege Escalation

Gaining privileges beyond what is intended.

Lateral MovementL-01

Lateral Movement

Accessing further internal systems after initial login.

Monitoring GapsM-CLD-01

Shadow Cloud Assets

Creation of uncontrolled resources through "sprawl".

MITRE ATT&CK® Techniques

Reconnaissance

T1592

Gather Victim Digital Network Information

ATT&CK

Collecting information about the target infrastructure.

Mitigated by

External Attack Surface Management (EASM)Extended ProtectionMedium

CIS: 1.1NIST: ID.RA-1

API Asset InventoryBaseline ProtectionMedium

CIS: 1.1OWASP: API9

T1595

Active Scanning

ATT&CK

Active scanning of web infrastructure for vulnerabilities.

Mitigated by

External Attack Surface Management (EASM)Extended ProtectionMedium

CIS: 1.1NIST: ID.RA-1

Initial Access

T1190

Exploit Public-Facing Application

ATT&CK

Exploiting vulnerabilities in internet-facing services.

Mitigated by

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) ScanningExtended ProtectionMedium

CIS: 1.1NIST: PR.IP-1

T1078

Valid Accounts

ATT&CK

Exploiting existing credentials for access.

Mitigated by

Conditional Access PoliciesBaseline ProtectionMedium

CIS: 6.1NIST: PR.AC-7OWASP: API2

Automated Offboarding WorkflowBaseline ProtectionMedium

CIS: 6.7NIST: PR.AC-2

Adaptive MFA (Risk-based)Extended ProtectionLow

CIS: 6.5NIST: PR.AC-7

Credential Access

T1110

Brute Force

ATT&CK

Attempts to gain access to accounts or API keys through systematic trial and error.

Mitigated by

Adaptive MFA (Risk-based)Extended ProtectionLow

CIS: 6.5NIST: PR.AC-7

Discovery

T1580

Shadow IT Asset Discovery

ATT&CK

Finding unmanaged resources in the network.

Mitigated by

External Attack Surface Management (EASM)Extended ProtectionMedium

CIS: 1.1NIST: ID.RA-1

API Asset InventoryBaseline ProtectionMedium

CIS: 1.1OWASP: API9

Hardware Asset TaggingBaseline ProtectionLow

CIS: 1.1NIST: ID.AM-1

T1526

Cloud Service Discovery

ATT&CK

Identifying cloud resources and permissions.

Mitigated by

External Attack Surface Management (EASM)Extended ProtectionMedium

CIS: 1.1NIST: ID.RA-1

API Asset InventoryBaseline ProtectionMedium

CIS: 1.1OWASP: API9

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) ScanningExtended ProtectionMedium

CIS: 1.1NIST: PR.IP-1

Hardware Asset TaggingBaseline ProtectionLow

CIS: 1.1NIST: ID.AM-1

T1046

Network Service Discovery

ATT&CK

Port scan-based reconnaissance of active services on the network.

Mitigated by

External Attack Surface Management (EASM)Extended ProtectionMedium

CIS: 1.1NIST: ID.RA-1

T1087

Account Discovery

ATT&CK

Enumeration of internal accounts and group structures after initial access.

Mitigated by

SIEM IntegrationExtended ProtectionHigh

CIS: 8.5NIST: DE.AE-3NIST: DE.CM-1OWASP: A09:2021

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Asset Inventory (Shadow IT) | IT Security Checklist for SMEs · AYSOLI Security Hub