UpGuard - Attack Surface Management & Third-Party Risk

Comprehensive analysis of UpGuard’s external attack surface monitoring and vendor risk platform.

Table of contents

  1. Overview
    1. Vendor Information
  2. Core Capabilities
    1. 1. External Attack Surface Monitoring
    2. 2. Vendor Risk Management
    3. 3. Data Leak Detection
    4. 4. Security Ratings
  3. Architecture & Integration
    1. UpGuard in Cursor Security Stack
    2. Integration with Other Tools
  4. Key Features for Cursor Security
    1. 1. Forgotten Asset Discovery
    2. 2. Continuous Monitoring
    3. 3. Vendor Breach Monitoring
  5. Pricing Model
    1. Tiered Licensing
  6. Strengths & Weaknesses
    1. Strengths ✅
    2. Weaknesses ⚠️
  7. Resources & Links
  8. Conclusion

Overview

UpGuard is a cybersecurity platform that provides continuous monitoring of external attack surfaces and third-party vendor risk. It discovers internet-facing assets, identifies security issues, and monitors supply chain security posture.

Vendor Information

   
Company UpGuard, Inc.
Founded 2012
Headquarters Mountain View, CA
Founders Mike Baukes, Alan Sharp-Paul
Website https://www.upguard.com
Status Private (backed by prominent VCs)
Notable Discovered major data leaks (Facebook, Verizon, RNC)

Core Capabilities

1. External Attack Surface Monitoring

What UpGuard Discovers:

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Your Organization's External Footprint:
├── Domains & Subdomains
│   ├── company.com
│   ├── dev.company.com
│   ├── api.company.com
│   ├── *.azurewebsites.net (orphaned apps)
│   └── aoai-cursor-prod.openai.azure.com (if public)
│
├── IP Addresses
│   ├── Cloud IPs (Azure, AWS, GCP)
│   ├── On-prem IPs
│   └── Third-party IPs
│
├── Cloud Resources
│   ├── Azure Storage accounts (public access?)
│   ├── Azure OpenAI endpoints (public?)
│   ├── Key Vaults (public access disabled?)
│   └── Azure Functions (authentication required?)
│
├── Certificates
│   ├── Expiring soon
│   ├── Self-signed
│   ├── Weak encryption
│   └── Certificate transparency logs
│
├── Ports & Services
│   ├── Open ports (SSH, RDP, databases)
│   ├── Services running
│   ├── Version information
│   └── Known vulnerabilities
│
└── Email Security
    ├── SPF records
    ├── DKIM configuration
    ├── DMARC policies
    └── MX records

How It Works:

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UpGuard Scanning (Agentless, External Only):
1. DNS enumeration (find all your domains)
2. Certificate transparency logs
3. Port scanning (ethical, non-intrusive)
4. Service fingerprinting
5. Cloud resource discovery (Azure, AWS, GCP)
6. Continuous monitoring (daily scans)
7. Change detection & alerting

Result: Complete map of external attack surface

2. Vendor Risk Management

Third-Party Security Monitoring:

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For Cursor Environment:
Monitor critical vendors:
├── Cursor (Anysphere, Inc.)
│   ├── Security posture score
│   ├── Data breach history
│   ├── Exposed services
│   └── Security questionnaire
│
├── Microsoft (Azure provider)
│   ├── Azure outages
│   ├── Security incidents
│   └── Compliance status
│
├── GitHub (code hosting)
│   ├── Service health
│   ├── Security advisories
│   └── Data breaches
│
├── Wiz (security vendor)
├── CrowdStrike (security vendor)
├── Okta (identity provider)
└── Other SaaS vendors (50-100 typically)

Alert When:
⚠️ Vendor suffers data breach
⚠️ Vendor security score drops
⚠️ Vendor exposes data publicly
⚠️ Vendor has SSL issues
⚠️ Vendor compliance expires

Security Questionnaire Automation:

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# UpGuard automates vendor assessments
vendor_assessment:
  - Send security questionnaire
  - Track response status
  - Score responses automatically
  - Flag high-risk answers
  - Monitor continuous posture
  
  # Example vendors for Cursor environment:
  vendors:
    - name: "Cursor IDE"
      tier: "Critical"
      questionnaire: "SIG Lite"
      score: 850/1000  # UpGuard score
      status: "Low Risk"
      last_assessment: "2024-09-01"
      next_assessment: "2025-03-01"

3. Data Leak Detection

Exposed Data Monitoring:

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UpGuard Monitors for:
├── S3 buckets (public read access)
├── Azure Storage (anonymous access)
├── GitHub repositories (accidentally public)
├── Rsync servers (open to internet)
├── Database backups (exposed)
├── API keys (in public code)
├── Customer data (in public places)
└── Credentials (in paste sites)

Example Alert:
🚨 Data Exposure Detected
Resource: Azure Storage Account "cursorbckups"
Issue: Container "developers" has public read access
Exposed: 2,847 files (including .env files with API keys)
Impact: CRITICAL
Discovered: 2024-10-10 08:32 UTC
Action Required: IMMEDIATE - Disable public access

Remediation:
$ az storage container set-permission \
  --name developers \
  --account-name cursorbckups \
  --public-access off

4. Security Ratings

UpGuard Cyber Risk Score:

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# UpGuard calculates security score (0-950)

scoring_factors = {
    "website_security": {
        "weight": 20,
        "checks": [
            "ssl_configuration",
            "http_security_headers",
            "cookie_security",
            "csp_policy"
        ]
    },
    
    "email_security": {
        "weight": 15,
        "checks": [
            "spf_record",
            "dkim_configuration",
            "dmarc_policy",
            "mx_security"
        ]
    },
    
    "network_security": {
        "weight": 25,
        "checks": [
            "open_ports",
            "exposed_services",
            "firewall_configuration",
            "intrusion_prevention"
        ]
    },
    
    "application_security": {
        "weight": 20,
        "checks": [
            "known_vulnerabilities",
            "patch_level",
            "software_versions",
            "authentication_strength"
        ]
    },
    
    "brand_reputation": {
        "weight": 10,
        "checks": [
            "phishing_sites",
            "typosquatting",
            "brand_abuse",
            "data_breaches"
        ]
    },
    
    "compliance": {
        "weight": 10,
        "checks": [
            "privacy_policy",
            "terms_of_service",
            "gdpr_compliance",
            "security_documentation"
        ]
    }
}

company_score = calculate_score(scoring_factors)

# Example scores:
your_company: 850/950 (A rating)
cursor_com: 825/950 (A- rating)
average_company: 650/950 (C+ rating)

Architecture & Integration

UpGuard in Cursor Security Stack 

graph TB
    subgraph "Your Organization"
        A[Azure Resources]
        B[Domains/Websites]
        C[Cloud Services]
    end
    
    subgraph "UpGuard Platform"
        D[Asset Discovery]
        E[Vulnerability Scanning]
        F[Risk Scoring]
        G[Alerting Engine]
    end
    
    subgraph "Third-Party Vendors"
        H[Cursor/Anysphere]
        I[Microsoft/Azure]
        J[GitHub]
        K[50+ Other Vendors]
    end
    
    subgraph "Security Team"
        L[Dashboard]
        M[Risk Reports]
        N[Remediation Tracking]
    end
    
    A --> D
    B --> D
    C --> D
    
    D --> E
    E --> F
    F --> G
    
    H --> F
    I --> F
    J --> F
    K --> F
    
    G --> L
    F --> M
    M --> N
    
    style D fill:#7c3aed,stroke:#5b21b6,color:#fff
    style F fill:#dc2626,stroke:#991b1b,color:#fff
    style L fill:#10b981,stroke:#059669,color:#fff

Integration with Other Tools

UpGuard + Wiz:

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Complementary Coverage:
├── UpGuard: External view (how attackers see you)
├── Wiz: Internal view (cloud misconfigurations)
└── Together: Complete attack surface visibility

Example:
UpGuard finds: "Azure Storage account publicly accessible"
Wiz finds: "Same storage account has customer PII"
Combined alert: CRITICAL - Customer data exposed to internet

UpGuard + Chronicle:

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# UpGuard alerts feed into Chronicle SIEM

upguard_alert = {
    "type": "data_exposure",
    "asset": "cursorbckups.blob.core.windows.net",
    "severity": "critical",
    "discovered": "2024-10-10T08:32:00Z"
}

# Send to Chronicle via webhook
chronicle.ingest_alert(upguard_alert)

# Chronicle correlates with:
- Recent Azure storage access logs
- Who configured public access
- When it was changed
- What data was accessed (if any)

# Full investigation timeline in Chronicle

Key Features for Cursor Security

1. Forgotten Asset Discovery

Shadow IT Detection:

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Common Discoveries:
├── Orphaned Azure Resources
│   ├── Old dev Azure OpenAI instances (still billing!)
│   ├── Forgotten storage accounts
│   ├── Unused app services
│   └── Old Key Vaults
│
├── Forgotten Subdomains
│   ├── dev-cursor-api.company.com (vulnerable WordPress)
│   ├── old-test.company.com (admin:admin login)
│   └── staging.company.com (no authentication)
│
└── Expired Resources
    ├── SSL certificates expired
    ├── Domains about to expire
    └── Cloud resources (still running)

Value: Reduce attack surface, cut costs

2. Continuous Monitoring

Daily Scanning:

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upguard_monitoring:
  scan_frequency: daily
  
  notifications:
    - type: "New subdomain detected"
      severity: MEDIUM
      example: "cursor-dev-new.company.com appeared"
      
    - type: "Service newly exposed"
      severity: HIGH
      example: "Port 22 (SSH) now open on cursor-api.com"
      
    - type: "SSL certificate expiring"
      severity: MEDIUM
      example: "*.company.com cert expires in 14 days"
      
    - type: "Public S3 bucket detected"
      severity: CRITICAL
      example: "s3://cursor-backups now publicly readable"

3. Vendor Breach Monitoring

Third-Party Breach Alerts:

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Real Example:
Date: 2024-03-15
Vendor: LastPass (password manager)
Incident: Data breach disclosed
UpGuard Alert: "Vendor LastPass experienced security incident"

Your Actions:
1. Check: Do we use LastPass? (Yes, 12 employees)
2. Impact: Potential credential exposure
3. Remediate:
   - Force password resets for LastPass users
   - Rotate any Azure API keys stored in LastPass
   - Review access logs for suspicious activity
   - Consider switching to Azure Key Vault
4. Timeline: 4 hours from UpGuard alert to complete mitigation

Value: Proactive response to supply chain risks

Pricing Model

Tiered Licensing 

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UpGuard Licensing:
├── Starter ($10K-20K/year)
│   ├── 1 primary domain
│   ├── Basic attack surface monitoring
│   ├── Email alerts
│   └── Up to 25 vendors
│
├── Professional ($30K-60K/year)
│   ├── Multiple domains
│   ├── Advanced scanning
│   ├── API access
│   ├── Up to 100 vendors
│   └── SIEM integration
│
└── Enterprise ($75K-150K/year)
    ├── Unlimited domains
    ├── Continuous monitoring
    ├── Dedicated CSM
    ├── Unlimited vendors
    ├── Custom integrations
    └── White-glove support

Customer Likely: Professional tier
Cost: ~$45K/year

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths ✅

  1. Comprehensive Discovery: Finds assets you forgot about
  2. Easy to Deploy: No agents, start monitoring immediately
  3. Vendor Risk: Only solution monitoring third-party security
  4. Data Leak Detection: Proactive data exposure alerts
  5. Good UI: Executive-friendly dashboards

Weaknesses ⚠️

  1. External Only: Can’t see internal misconfigurations
  2. Passive Scanning: Not as deep as active pentesting
  3. Cost: Can be expensive for many vendors
  4. False Positives: Sometimes flags non-issues

Resources & Links

Conclusion

For Cursor Security Architecture:

UpGuard provides external attack surface visibility that internal tools like Wiz cannot provide. It discovers forgotten assets, monitors vendor security, and detects data exposures before attackers exploit them.

Key Value Props:

  1. ✅ Discovers forgotten Azure resources
  2. ✅ Monitors third-party vendor security
  3. ✅ Detects data exposure immediately
  4. ✅ Provides attacker’s view
  5. ✅ Continuous, automated monitoring

Recommendation: Highly valuable for organizations with complex Azure environments and many third-party integrations.

Last Updated: October 10, 2025
Review Status: Validated