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Robin Long, CTO APJ at Rapid7Share this article on:
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Today’s attackers are more organised, well-funded, and increasingly using automation and AI to scale their operations – how we defend against them needs to evolve.
Cyber threats have changed.
Ransomware groups now operate like mature enterprises, zero-day vulnerabilities are rapidly weaponised and traded, and misconfigured cloud environments and forgotten assets often pose greater risks than traditional software flaws.
At the same time, digital transformation has fragmented the IT landscape. Remote work, IoT, cloud-native architectures, and operational technologies have all created a sprawling, dynamic attack surface that’s difficult to monitor, let alone defend. Security teams are being pulled in all directions, expected to deliver real-time risk reduction while facing mounting pressure from regulators, executives, and adversaries alike.
In this context, traditional vulnerability management tools and processes, once considered the gold standard, are no longer enough. Scheduled scans, CVSS scores, and patch lists lack the contextual insight to identify what truly matters. They generate noise without clarity, actions without impact.
It’s time to move beyond traditional vulnerability management to a more proactive, continuous, and risk-based approach that reflects the future of cyber defence. Continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) is the way forward.
Why CTEM matters
CTEM marks a critical shift in how organisations manage cyber risk. It delivers continuous visibility, rich context, and action-oriented intelligence, allowing teams to detect and respond to exposures before they become incidents.
By incorporating telemetry, threat intelligence, and attack simulations, CTEM helps organisations make smarter decisions about where to focus their defences. It also enables teams to understand the organisation’s entire attack surface, particularly internet-facing assets, and monitor it in real time.
This approach is especially relevant in today’s environment of hybrid work, cloud-first infrastructure, and interconnected supply chains. Instead of relying on static risk scores, CTEM provides dynamic, business-contextual insight into actual exposures, helping teams stay ahead of the curve.
A modern solution
CTEM replaces the reactive “scan and patch” mindset with a continuous cycle of:
Scoping and discovery: Constant visibility into the full attack surface and awareness of emerging exposures.
Prioritisation: Risk-based analysis that identifies which exposures are most likely to be exploited and which assets are most business critical.
Validation: Active testing to ensure existing controls can withstand real-world attack scenarios.
Mobilisation: Alignment of security, IT, and business stakeholders around a common view of risk, using integrated workflows and orchestration tools.
Think of your organisation like a house with dozens of possible entry points. Traditional vulnerability management treats every unlocked window or chimney as equal. CTEM finds the unlocked front door, the path most likely to be used, and secures it first. It also monitors the neighbourhood, keeping watch on threat trends to anticipate the next likely avenue of attack.
Lifting cyber maturity
One of CTEM’s greatest strengths is its ability to enhance cyber maturity over time. By reducing exposures continuously, it shifts organisations from reactive firefighting to strategic resilience.
For smaller organisations with limited teams and budgets, CTEM offers a practical way to implement enterprise-grade security. It focuses resources where they matter most, enabling meaningful risk reduction without overwhelming teams.
Importantly, CTEM also supports compliance. Regulatory frameworks like GDPR, PCI DSS, and Australia’s own critical infrastructure laws are increasingly focused on demonstrable, ongoing risk management.
The time is now
The era of traditional vulnerability management is over. Modern infrastructure demands modern defences, and CTEM provides the intelligence, agility, and control needed to protect against today’s threats whilst preparing for tomorrow’s.
For security leaders, the message is clear: it’s no longer enough to find and fix vulnerabilities. You need to understand how exposures connect to your business, how they evolve in real-time, and how to act decisively.
That’s what CTEM delivers, and why now is the time to make the shift.
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