What is threat exposure management?
Most organizations like to think their reactive defense mechanisms —firewalls, endpoint monitoring, —are sufficient to protect their digital assets. But these measures only alert the security team when a threat is already in progress, meaning they address attacks as they occur rather than preventing them. Meanwhile, a significant amount of sensitive data resides in the deep and dark web, where vulnerabilities remain undetected without the active scanning provided by specialized tools and advanced analytics.
Threat exposure management (TEM) is a systematic process used to identify, evaluate, and address those security exposures and risks across organizations’ digital and physical assets. TEM provides clarity by mapping out each entity’s entire attack surface, including endpoints, applications, and cloud resources that attackers might exploit. This detailed view of vulnerabilities helps security teams understand where the weak points lie, allowing them to make informed decisions regarding resource allocation and defense enhancements. Ultimately, this approach reduces the likelihood of breaches and ensures that security measures align seamlessly with overall business objectives.
In short, it’s about understanding your weaknesses before attackers do.
Core cyber threat exposure management principles
When it comes to exposure management for cybersecurity, TEM is an ongoing, iterative process that provides a clear, technical view of risk and enables effective remediation. Gartner’s continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) process consists of the following steps:
- It starts with scoping, where all digital assets—from internal networks and cloud infrastructures to publicly accessible endpoints and open ports—are subject to attack surface mapping to define the complete scope of the risk or exposure.
- Discovery follows, using continuous vulnerability scans and real-time monitoring across web applications, APIs, IoT/OT devices, DNS records, and cloud resources, to identify known vulnerabilities such as common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs), as well as misconfigurations, outdated software, exposed databases, and even human errors like weak passwords.
- Risk-based prioritization then ranks these vulnerabilities based on data sensitivity, exploitability, and potential impact on operations, ensuring that the most critical risks are addressed first. For example, a remote code execution flaw in a public API handling encrypted financial transactions would be prioritized over an internal misconfiguration, due to its higher, more direct potential for data exfiltration and service disruption.
- Validation is carried out through controlled simulations and emulated attacks to verify that applied fixes effectively block attack vectors.
- Finally, mobilization deploys targeted remediation measures, including patching software, closing unnecessary ports, and adjusting access controls, to eliminate identified risks.
Throughout this process, integrated communication channels among security, IT, and development teams ensure coordinated responses and continuous improvement in the face of evolving threats. This collaborative approach includes routine reviews of vulnerability data via centralized dashboards, regular alignment on updated threat intelligence, and coordinated planning to adjust policies, procedures, and tooling as new vulnerabilities emerge.
Leveraging data to uncover and address threats
In 2024, 1 in 3 data breaches involved shadow data—unmanaged data outside centralized IT systems—and nearly 46% of breaches compromised customer PII, including tax IDs, emails, phone numbers, and home addresses (IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report, 2024). To mitigate the risk posed by the sensitive data they handle on a daily basis and enhance their cyber exposure management, organizations must collect and use data about their cyber environment from a variety of sources.
Vulnerability scans
Vulnerability scans systematically assess digital assets using automated tools that reference extensive databases of known vulnerabilities (such as CVEs) to detect misconfigurations, outdated software, and insecure system settings. Scans run in both authenticated and unauthenticated modes to simulate insider and external threat vectors, generating detailed metrics that form the technical baseline for risk quantification and remediation prioritization.
Threat intelligence feeds
Threat intelligence feeds aggregate real-time data from diverse external sources including OSINT, vendor advisories, and dark web monitoring, to deliver near-real-time indicators of compromise (IOCs). They enhance internal assessments by integrating contextual market data that clarifies how newly disclosed vulnerabilities might be exploited in practice, so organizations remain aware of the latest threats and can adjust their security strategies accordingly.
Real-time monitoring
Real-time monitoring continuously tracks network activity, application logs, and system performance metrics to identify anomalies as they occur. It uses SIEM systems, network traffic analyzers, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) platforms to capture granular telemetry across the IT infrastructure. These systems deploy machine learning algorithms and statistical anomaly detection to continuously analyze log streams, network flows, and system performance metrics. Immediate alerts are generated when deviations from established baselines occur, significantly reducing threat dwell time and enabling rapid response to suspicious behavior. As a result, breaches can be identified with speed, minimizing potential damage.
Essential metrics to evaluate exposure and risk
When it comes to evaluating exposure and risk on the dark web, the following metrics reveal the real impact of threats and the efficiency of its cyber threat management efforts.
- Key risk indicators (KRIs) are quantifiable early warning signals, such as the number of new vulnerabilities discovered during each scan cycle, the percentage of assets exhibiting misconfigurations, and rates of anomalous access attempts. They allow security teams to establish baseline risk levels and set thresholds that trigger further investigation.
- Threat detection rates measure the efficiency of your monitoring systems in identifying potential attacks, including the average time from vulnerability disclosure to detection, the volume of incidents flagged within a given period, and the consistency of updates received from threat intelligence feeds.
- Remediation timelines, often quantified as Mea n Time to Response (MTTR), track the duration between the detection of a vulnerability and the application of a fix. Detailed measurements segmented by severity highlight the efficiency of incident response processes, with shorter remediation times directly correlating to reduced risk.
- For example, if a vulnerability scan detects a critical flaw with a high CVSS score and the patch is applied within 24 hours, the MTTR is one day; continuously tracking this metric quantifies remediation efficiency, with a decreasing MTTR indicating faster response and a reduced window for exploitation.
- Overall risk reduction is a composite metric that gauges the decline in an organization’s exposure over time. This measure combines data on the number and severity of unresolved vulnerabilities, improvements in compliance scores, and progress in remediation effectiveness to provide a clear picture of security enhancements.
Impact and likelihood scoring assigns numerical values to vulnerabilities based on the potential consequences of an attack and the probability of exploitation. This dual-scoring system creates a risk matrix that visually prioritizes exposures, guiding resource allocation toward the most critical issues.
Building a resilient threat exposure management strategy
The National Public Data breach exposed 2.9 billion records in a 277.1GB unencrypted dataset, leading to extensive remediation and compliance challenges. If you want your organization to avoid the fallout of such a large-scale attack, implementing targeted techniques and best practices can strengthen TEM and reduce exposure by detecting and mitigating vulnerabilities before they are exploited.
Techniques to strengthen your TEM
- Engage in proactive vulnerability scanning: Cross-reference your asset inventory with CVE databases and apply CVSS-based risk scoring. This ensures that critical weaknesses—those with high exploitability and data sensitivity—are prioritized for remediation, reducing the attack window.
- Conduct scenario-based penetration testing: Simulated attack scenarios rigorously test your defenses by mimicking real-world breach tactics. This approach involves executing controlled, simulated attack scenarios to assess the effectiveness of your security controls and measure Mean Time to Repair (MTTR). This technique reveals potential exploit paths and lateral movement opportunities, providing data to refine incident response protocols and fortify defenses.
- Automate as much as possible: Automation capabilities streamline asset discovery, real-time monitoring of network traffic, system configurations, and log data, and remediation processes. Powered by AI and machine learning, these advanced tools consistently update your asset inventory and flag anomalies, reducing manual errors and accelerating response times.
Additional TEM best practices
- Integrate TEM into enterprise risk management: Embedding TEM into your enterprise cyber threat management program centralizes data from automated scans, digital risk monitoring, and periodic audits. This integrated approach allows security teams to prioritize critical vulnerabilities and allocate resources efficiently while maintaining compliance and fostering interdepartmental collaboration.
- Implement a zero-trust model: Architect your security environment to require strict verification of every user and device before granting access, regardless of network location. This approach enforces the principle of least privilege and minimizes lateral movement, effectively reducing the attack surface, while mitigating internal and external threats.
- Know about every new threat: Maintain continuous vigilance over emerging vulnerabilities and attack techniques and adapt your defenses with shifts in the threat environment.
If your organization is seeking a proactive approach to threat exposure management, learn more about Lunar here or contact one of our data experts for further details.
