ENG 311 – Attack Surface Analysis & Reduction

Course Overview

The attack surface of an application represents the number of entry points exposed to a potential attacker. The larger the attack surface, the larger the set of methods that can be used by an adversary breaking into software applications. Resultantly, minimizing it is a key exercise in risk reduction.

Topics covered:

• Understanding the goals and methodologies of attackers
• Identifying attack vectors that expose the application
• Defining and reducing an application’s attack surface