The IT Nerd

Horizon3.ai, a pioneer in autonomous security solutions, today announced the launch of its Rapid Response service, now part of the NodeZero™ platform. This one-of-a-kind capability marks a significant advancement in autonomous penetration testing solutions by addressing a critical gap in measuring the real-world impact of exploitable vulnerabilities within the software many organizations have come to rely on. Now, organizations can gain a clear understanding of their ‘likelihood of exploitability’ for the most critical vulnerabilities being announced.

As organizations continue to contend with both zero-day and N-day vulnerabilities, the window of time between the public disclosure of a vulnerability and threat actors exploiting them in the wild is steadily shrinking. Knowing this predicament, organizations spend vast amounts of time, money, and resources patching the software they use after hearing of a vendor vulnerability announcement. Yet, how often are organizations expending considerable effort not knowing if a vulnerability is actually exploitable or not? The answer to that is, “quite often.”

So far in 2024, the U.S. National Vulnerability Database (NVD) has tracked 11,709 new vulnerabilities in publicly released software. A common challenge for organizations is determining whether any software they are using that is identified as vulnerable is actually exploitable within their specific environments, a judgment often contingent on how the software is deployed. Since organizations often lack a proven method to assess the ‘exploitability’ of software, they may find themselves updating software that does not require immediate patching. NodeZero addresses this issue with its Rapid Response service, which is specifically tailored to manage many of the most critical vulnerabilities more effectively. The following outlines the workings of the Rapid Response service.

As Horizon3.ai’s attack team conducts original research and uncovers new vulnerabilities, they also keep an eye on public vulnerability disclosures. They assess the exploitability of these vulnerabilities, considering factors such as the ease of exploitation, their severity, and the prevalence of the vulnerable software. Following their assessment, they develop proof of concept (POC) exploits, integrate them into NodeZero as new attack content, and notify customers about these emerging vulnerabilities. With NodeZero, customers can probe their systems using this new attack content to gain immediate insights into their level of exploitability. Furthermore, Horizon3.ai alerts customers if known vulnerable software is present in their production environments and warns them about NodeZero being able to exploit these weaknesses.

The Rapid Response service doesn’t just focus on vulnerabilities; it zeroes in on the exploitability of known issues in production environments. As part of this service, organizations receive proactive measures to keep abreast of cyberattacks. The vulnerabilities that flow through this program typically revolve around publicly accessible assets since they are the most likely targets for exploitation.

Recognizing the critical role of response time to emerging exploits in the wild, Horizon3.ai’s Rapid Response service is designed to provide organizations with a proactive defense mechanism to stay ahead of evolving cyberattacks as they’re discovered or trending in the wild. The fundamentals of this type of rapid response effort are concentrated on enabling organizations to preemptively mitigate nascent vulnerabilities before threat actors target them. 

By leveraging Horizon3.ai’s expertise in using ‘offense to inform defense,’ and leaning into NodeZero’s autonomous capabilities, customers can schedule and/or immediately launch NodeZero using a single exploit-check to gain early detection of exploitability from an attacker’s perspective. Once finished, NodeZero prioritizes the most critical and exploitable vulnerabilities that must be patched because they have been deemed completely exploitable by the NodeZero platform.

Horizon3.ai’s Rapid Response service is a groundbreaking step forward in the field of cybersecurity, offering organizations an unprecedented level of preparedness against cyber threats. With its cutting-edge technology and proactive strategy, Horizon3.ai is redefining the landscape of cyber defense, providing a critical service that ensures organizations are not only aware of their vulnerabilities but are also equipped to address exploitability with unmatched speed and efficiency. This service, seamlessly integrated into the NodeZero platform, solidifies Horizon3.ai’s position as a leader in autonomous security solutions, empowering organizations to fortify their defenses against the unpredictable nature of cyber threats.

Learn more about the Horizon3.ai Rapid Response service here.