CISOs, security leaders, and SOC teams often struggle with limited visibility into all connections made to company-owned assets and networks. They are hampered by the lack of open source intelligence and powerful technologies needed to proactively, continuously, and effectively discover and protect systems, data, and assets.
With a 24/7 search for easily exploitable vulnerabilities by advanced threat actors, CISOs reduce threat exposure and protect assets, users and data from the devastating consequences of relentless cyberattacks and breaches. We are looking for improved methods for
In response to this need, security leaders have new tools to manage the most pressing threats from the source with new solutions that address the most critical priorities early in the attack chain. Leading analyst firm Gartner Research said of the solution, “By 2026, organizations that prioritize security investments based on an ongoing exposure management program will be one-third less likely to suffer a breach. I will.โ (Gartner, 2022).
But what does this mean specifically?
IT and security teams face constant threat exposure and need to proactively address critical security gaps in exposed assets. By implementing Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) Program, security teams can thwart adversary objectives by minimizing the critical risks associated with exposed assets. This comprehensive approach combines prevention and remediation strategies to either a) prevent a breach entirely or b) significantly reduce the impact if a breach does occur.
Faster Enemies, Poor Protection, and Preventable Incidents
In 2023, despite significant investments in security infrastructure and skilled personnel, existing approaches will struggle to effectively mitigate risk, manage threat exposure, and prevent security breaches. doing.
Current proactive cyber risk management techniques are efficient, but they are time consuming, resource intensive, and susceptible to human error. Accurately performing tasks such as ongoing vulnerability detection, identification, and patch management require considerable time and expertise. Delaying or mishandling these critical activities can increase the likelihood of an economically damaging security breach.
At the same time, cybercriminals can easily gain initial access points to high-value targets via the dark web thanks to ransomware as a service and initial access brokers. Additionally, compromised user credentials are readily available online and easily used in targeted tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
Cybersecurity skills gaps and economic factors compound the risks, leaving many SecOps and DevOps teams understaffed, underresourced, and overwhelmed with alerts.
These combined factors limit SOC visibility and give threat actors an unfair advantage. This trend must be countered and reversed.
Expanding Attack Surface, Growing Threats
By 2022, 75% of reported security breaches were due to external attackers (IBM, 2022). These attacks are fast and complex, posing significant challenges for modern SOCs. Organizations’ networks, systems, and users are under constant attack from malicious external attackers, and defense-in-depth strategies must be employed to combat these threats.
Weaknesses, security gaps, and inadequate controls contribute to an ever-evolving attack surface that can expose cybercriminals to easily accessible threats. Traditionally, these issues were addressed by vulnerability management capabilities. But as cybercriminals continuously scan their vulnerable attack surface, looking for weak controls, unpatched assets, and vulnerable systems, their TTPs are surprisingly accurate and believable. Faster than ever before, and very effective.
Security teams need enhanced capabilities that provide precision, speed, and flexibility to stay ahead of their adversaries.
It’s important to be aware of this and prioritize identifying and remediating major security threats, as most of them can be prevented. By quickly detecting and addressing these vulnerabilities, CISOs can effectively reduce the overall attack surface and stop its inexorable expansion. Therefore, organizations should implement a Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) program that runs 24/7.
Building a proactive CTEM program
Both large and small businesses (SMBs) should consider adopting a CTEM program to streamline their traditional vulnerability management processes and minimize their attack surface. By proactively addressing vulnerabilities and adopting effective risk management strategies, organizations can strengthen their security stance and reduce the potential impact of security breaches. CTEM provides a holistic approach that goes beyond just vulnerability management, providing the intelligence, context and data to give meaning and validation to your findings.
Gartner Research defines the CTEM program as a consistent, dynamic way to prioritize remediation and mitigation of the most pressing cyber risks while continuously enhancing an organization’s security posture . โA CTEM includes a set of processes and capabilities that enable an enterprise to continuously and consistently assess the security, accessibility, exposure, and exploitability of an enterprise’s digital and physical assets.โ (Gartner, 2022) .
CTEM Focuses on DevSecOps
The CTEM program consists of five distinct, but interrelated, stages: defining scope, finding vulnerabilities, ranking priorities, validating findings, and initiating action. should be run periodically.
These stages promote a comprehensive understanding of an organization’s cyber threat landscape and enable security teams to take informed, decisive action. The mobilization phase of the CTEM program focuses on prioritizing vulnerabilities and risks based on asset criticality, ensuring rapid remediation, and embedding seamless workflows into DevSecOps teams.
An effective implementation of a CTEM program can prevent security incidents and breaches, facilitate risk mitigation, and increase overall security maturity. Key features and capabilities of the robust CTEM program include:
- Asset auto-discovery and vulnerability management
- in progress Vulnerability assessment Percentage of threat exposure within the attack surface
- Security validation to eliminate false positives and ensure accuracy
- Visualize attacker perspectives and potential attack vectors
- Prioritize remediation efforts and integrate with DevSecOps workflows
Start Your CTEM Program Now
Security administrators need a continuous threat exposure management solution that strengthens, supports, and extends the ability of internal teams to neutralize threats at the source and prevent costly and damaging security breaches.
Through CTEM’s advanced development, CISOs and security leaders can take a proactive, multi-layered approach to combating cyberattacks, ensuring a prioritized and effective strategy. This comprehensive feature set equips teams with powerful programmatic tools to significantly reduce cyber risk in real time while continuously improving security outcomes over time.
Contact us to learn more about building a world-class approach to closing security gaps with our Continuous Threat Exposure Management Program. bleach rockglobal leader in Penetration testing servicetoday is a discovery call.
