Continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) is a framework for proactively managing and mitigating threat exposure using an iterative approach that emphasises on developing structured organisational procedures as well as leveraging security tools.
In this article, we'll go over CTEM, its key elements, and a five-step implementation plan for lowering risk exposure, improving prioritisation, and leading to better vulnerability and exposure management.
Understanding continuous threat exposure management
In traditional vulnerability management, security teams work in relative silos, focussing less on the "why" and "how" of what is uncovered during vulnerability assessments. In contrast, CTEM is a proactive approach that assists organisations:
- Determine the most valuable assets for the organisation.
- Identify the assets in scope and the different forms of exposures to these assets.
- Validate the actual exploitability of identified exposures and the effectiveness of pre-defined organisational responses.
- Encourage the organisation to take the proper action. Track and improve the program through iteration.
CTEM uses an iterative strategy to continuously improve the organization's security posture. By taking this approach, organisations can create an actionable security plan that management can understand, business units can support, and technical teams can utilise as a reference.
The 5 steps in the CTEM cycle
1. Identify the initial scope
Most organisations struggle to keep up with the digital velocity of asset surface growth. In this step, the organisation must identify which types of assets are most important. When launching a CTEM program, organisations should consider the following as their initial scope:-
External attack surface: This refers to an organization's internet-facing assets, which an attacker could target to acquire access.
SaaS security posture: Due to the increase in remote work, many organisations receive and transfer business data to third-party APIs and externally hosted applications.
2. Discover assets and assess threats
Discovery entails locating specific assets within the category established in the previous scoping step and evaluating them for potential risks. In addition to Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs), the exposures should contain misconfigurations and other vulnerabilities. It goes without saying that finding assets based on a precise business risk scope is significantly more valuable than making a broad discovery that finds a lot of vulnerabilities and assets.
3. Prioritizing threats
Prioritisation involves assessing the importance of identified issues. This stage is critical for cutting through the noise of numerous security vulnerabilities and focussing on the most important concerns. Beyond CVEs, organisations should examine exploit prevalence and characteristics unique to their organisation, such as available controls, mitigation alternatives, business criticality, and risk tolerance.
4. Validate exploitability and security response
The validation process uses tools such as attack path simulations, breach and attack simulations, and other controlled simulations to assess the exploitability of prioritised exposures and their impact on key systems. It confirms whether vulnerabilities may be exploited and whether the present defence strategy will address them. This method entails conducting simulated attacks and ensuring that reaction plans are activated correctly.
5. Mobilize remediation teams
Through the simplification of approvals, implementation procedures, and mitigation deployments, the "mobilisation" effort seeks to assist teams in responding to CTEM results. Teams outside of the security team are frequently responsible for remediation; there are numerous approaches to problem solving, and each one may have a distinct effect on the business.
Building on the first tool automation is crucial to developing a systematic and well-coordinated cleanup procedure. By reducing delays in implementation and operational procedures, this mobilisation phase guarantees prompt response times.
Benefits of implementing CTEM
Reduced risk exposure: Employing continuous monitoring to identify threats before they can impact business operations helps mitigate risk exposure.
Improved prioritization: CTEM helps organizations understand the severity of each threat so they can determine which ones require urgent attention and resources.
Proactive security posture: The proactive approach of CTEM is seen particularly in the scoping and discovery steps, which work continuously to address emerging threats.