Attack surface

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The attack surface of a software environment is scope of functionality that is available to any application user, particularly unauthenticated users.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• User input fields
• Protocols
• Interfaces
• Services

One approach to improving information security is to reduce the attack surface, making a piece of software harder to attack. However, this approach does little to mitigate the amount of damage a determined attacker can inflict once a vulnerability is found.

[edit] See also

• Vulnerability (computing)
• Computer security

[edit] References

This section requires expansion.

[edit] External links

• Mitigate Security Risks by Minimizing the Code You Expose to Untrusted Users on MSDN
• Attack Surface Measurement
• Attack Surface Measurement at Carnegie Mellon CyLab

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