Microsoft Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer Insights

External Attack Surface Management (EASM) market refers to solutions that continuously discover, inventory, and monitor an organization’s internet‑facing digital assets from an attacker’s perspective. These platforms identify unknown or unmanaged assets, exposed services, misconfigurations, and vulnerabilities across cloud, SaaS, on‑premises, and third‑party environments. EASM solutions contextualize external exposures with risk scoring, threat intelligence, and business relevance to help organizations prioritize remediation efforts. The market exists to help cybersecurity teams proactively reduce exposure by maintaining visibility of their internet-facing assets.

Who are the target users of External Attack Surface Management (EASM) Software?

Typical users include cybersecurity teams, vulnerability management professionals, risk managers, and IT security leaders in organizations of all sizes.
EASM solutions are especially valuable for enterprises with complex, distributed environments, frequent cloud adoption, or multiple subsidiaries and third-party relationships.
Executives responsible for organizational risk and compliance also benefit from the enhanced visibility and reporting capabilities these platforms provide.

What are the core capabilities of External Attack Surface Management (EASM) Software?

Asset Discovery and Inventory:
Identification of internet‑facing infrastructure (e.g., domains, subdomains, IPs, cloud assets, SaaS, APIs, certificates, shadow IT)
Asset Attribution & Ownership Mapping
Technology Fingerprinting (e.g., frameworks, CMS, web servers, open‑source components)
Third‑Party and Subsidiary Mapping
Continuous Monitoring & Change Detection:
Change Detection (new services, DNS changes, IP reassignments, open ports)
Asset Lifecycle Tracking (new, modified, decommissioned assets)
Certificate Monitoring (expiration, weak cryptography, unauthorized issuance)
Exposure & Vulnerability Identification:
Open Port and Service Enumeration
Configuration and Security Misconfiguration Detection
Known Vulnerability Mapping (CVE/CWE)
Insecure Protocol and Cipher Detection
Unprotected Cloud Storage & APIs
Expired or Weak Certificates
Exposed Secrets (tokens, API keys)
Risk Prioritization & Contextual Analysis
Risk Scoring (asset‑level and organization‑level)
Business Context Mapping (e.g., production vs dev, internet‑facing criticality)
Exploitability Context
Attack Path Visualization
Integration with Threat Intelligence Feeds
Attacker‑View Asset Mapping
Known Attacker Techniques mapping (MITRE ATT&CK alignment)
Remediation & Workflow Enablement
Remediation Guidance (e.g., automated attack surface reduction suggestions)
Integration with Ticketing Systems (e.g., ServiceNow, Jira)
Security Tool Integrations (e.g., SIEM, SOAR, vulnerability scanners)
Ownership Assignment & SLA Tracking
Evidence and Verification of Fixes
Reporting & Visualization
Executive Dashboards
Technical Analyst Views
Asset and Risk Heatmaps
Exposure Trends Over Time
Custom Report Builder

What are the benefits of External Attack Surface Management (EASM) Software?

EASM software helps organizations proactively reduce their cyber risk by maintaining comprehensive visibility of all internet-facing assets and exposures.
Security teams benefit from automated discovery, prioritized remediation, and streamlined workflows, enabling faster and more effective risk reduction.
Executives and risk leaders gain confidence through real-time dashboards, trend analysis, and clear evidence of remediation, supporting stronger governance, compliance, and organizational resilience against external threats.

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Find the top External Attack Surface Management Software with Gartner. Compare and filter by verified product reviews and choose the software that’s right for your organization.

External Attack Surface Management

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

Microsoft

MANAGER, IT SECURITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT

Our overall experience has been positive. Clear visibility into internet exposed assets and help with the security posture.

<50M USD

50M - 250M USD

250M - 500M USD

500M - 1B USD

1B - 3B USD

3B - 10B USD

30B + USD

Gov't/PS/ED <5,000 Employees

10B - 30B USD

Gov't/PS/ED 5,000 - 50,000 Employees

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Overall it was a solid app to help protect your computer and services from unwanted attacks. It fits right in line with other products similar to it - it doesnt stand out as the clear leader nor does it sit at the bottom of the pack. 

Cybersecurity Engineer

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management has one of the biggest benefits that, it provides visibility into assets that might otherwise go unnoticed. Instead of performing occasional manual checks, the system continuously monitors changes and highlights new or unusual exposures. This makes it easier for security teams to investigate potential risks and verify whether an asset is still needed or properly secured. There is a short adjustment period while validating discovered assets and understanding which ones belong to the organization, but once that process is completed the tool becomes a reliable source of external exposure insight. 

CrowdStrike

Palo Alto Networks

Google (Mandiant)

Other...

CybelAngel

CyberSecOp

CyCognito

Check Point Software Technologies

Bitsight

Halo Security

Censys

Check Point Software Technologies (Cyberint)

Cloudsine

NetSPI

Cyberthint

FireCompass

Deepinfo

Detectify

Orpheus Cyber

StrikeOne

Evolve Security

CTM360

Intel 471

BreachLock

Randori

BrandSek

Buguard

Edgewatch

Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft is dedicated to advancing human and organizational achievement.

Microsoft Security helps protect people and data against cyberthreats to give peace of mind.


Every company has a mission. What's ours? To empower every person and every organization to achieve more. We believe technology can and should be a force for good and that meaningful innovation contributes to a brighter world in the future and today. Our culture doesn’t just encourage curiosity; it embraces it. Each day we make progress together by showing up as our authentic selves. We show up with a learn-it-all mentality. We show up cheering on others, knowing their success doesn't diminish our own. We show up every day open to learning our own biases, changing our behavior, and inviting in differences. When we show up, we achieve more together. 

Microsoft operates in 190 countries and is made up of more than 220,000 passionate employees worldwide.

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Ratings Overview

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Visual Grouping of Digital Footprint Facilitates Understanding of Organization Resources

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Effective Alerts and Notifications

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