Insecure External Software Components that may be the target of threat actors

Threat actors exploit them for several reasons:

Supply Chain Attacks: Compromising a single widely-used external component grants access to hundreds or thousands of downstream applications that rely on it.

Implicit Trust: The operating system or main application often grants high trust permissions to these components (like drivers or APIs), meaning a vulnerability in them grants the attacker the same high privileges.

Patching Gaps: Developers are often slow to patch third-party dependencies, leaving known vulnerabilities open for long periods.

Specific Targets for Threat Actors

1. Application Program Interfaces (APIs)

APIs are sets of defined rules that allow different software components to communicate. They are crucial external components because they expose application logic and data directly, often across the network.

Sample Answer

Insecure external software components are prime targets for threat actors because they are often less scrutinized than core application code and provide a direct gateway into a system's functionality and data. These components, while essential for modern, modular software development, expand the attack surface significantly.

Insecure External Software Components as Targets

External software components are pieces of code developed and maintained outside of the main application but incorporated into it (e.g., third-party libraries, operating system components). Insecure versions are targeted because they introduce vulnerabilities that allow attackers to exploit a trusted part of the system.