How CTEM Prioritizes Critical Threats and Safeguards Your Most Valuable Assets

by

It’s been 5 months since we launched our Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) solution, and I’m excited to share the early successes our customers have experienced. CTEM has been a real game changer, uncovering critical exposures that traditional vulnerability management often overlooks. Let’s explore how this proactive approach is helping organizations reduce their attack surface and safeguard their most valuable assets more effectively.

1. Prioritizing What Attackers Are Actively Targeting

One of the biggest challenges security teams face is the overwhelming volume of vulnerabilities. A traditional vulnerability management process might sort these based on severity scores like CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System). However, severity alone doesn’t tell the whole story. A vulnerability classified as "critical" but not actively exploited poses less immediate risk than a medium-severity vulnerability that attackers are actively using.

Imagine your system has two vulnerabilities: one is critical but hasn't been exploited in the wild, and the other is labeled "medium" but is actively being used in attacks. CTEM flags the actively exploited medium vulnerability as a higher priority because it represents an immediate risk to your organization. Traditional vulnerability management might focus on the critical vulnerability, leaving your organization exposed to an attacker who can easily exploit the medium-severity flaw.

2. Focusing on What Matters Most

Traditional vulnerability management often overlooks the business impact of a vulnerability. Not all assets are created equal—what affects a database containing sensitive customer data is far more critical than a minor misconfiguration on a non-sensitive server. CTEM gives security teams the ability to prioritize vulnerabilities based not only on technical severity but also on the potential impact on the business if they were exploited.

In an enterprise financial organization, a critical vulnerability affecting an internal file server might seem urgent to the IT team managing infrastructure. However, if exploiting this vulnerability wouldn’t grant access to sensitive customer data or business-critical financial systems, the security team might deprioritize it. Meanwhile, a medium-risk vulnerability in an externally facing web application that handles customer transactions could be far more dangerous. If this vulnerability is exploited, it could allow attackers to compromise sensitive financial data, leading to severe business disruption. This would create an immediate priority for both security and IT teams to collaborate and mitigate the risk, as the consequences could include regulatory penalties and reputational damage.

3. Understanding the Full Context of Vulnerabilities

One of the key strengths of Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is its ability to map how vulnerabilities can be exploited across an organization’s entire infrastructure, offering deep asset context. Instead of viewing vulnerabilities in isolation, CTEM analyzes the relationships between assets, revealing how attackers could move laterally through your network to target critical systems.

For example, an enterprise healthcare organization, where an attacker exploits a medium-risk vulnerability on a perimeter system, such as an externally facing patient portal. At first glance, this vulnerability may not seem highly critical, as it doesn’t directly impact sensitive health data or critical systems. However, with CTEM, security teams can map the entire attack path and gain valuable context about how this vulnerability interacts with other assets in the infrastructure. Leveraging the initial vulnerability, the attacker can infiltrate the network and move laterally. By exploiting misconfigurations or reused credentials, they can escalate privileges and gain access to high-value targets such as electronic health records (EHR) systems, medical devices, or billing platforms containing sensitive patient data.

Whether it's pinpointing vulnerabilities that attackers are actively targeting, understanding the business impact, or mapping out complete attack paths, CTEM gives security teams the tools they need to take action. Learn how to implement CTEM in your organization. Download our CTEM whitepaper to get started.

John Le
John Le

John is the Director of Product Marketing at JupiterOne. He is an experienced cybersecurity product marketer and excels in crafting consistent messaging, extracting valuable insights from data, and connecting different teams to ensure alignment across the organization. Outside the office, John enjoys wakesurfing, carving down slopes, and supporting his beloved Texas Longhorns and Austin FC.

Keep Reading

Now Available: JupiterOne’s Public Postman Workspace | JupiterOne
October 31, 2024
Blog
Now Available: JupiterOne’s Public Postman Workspace

Explore JupiterOne’s Public Postman Workspace to streamline your workflows and enhance your security operations.

Prioritizing Exploitable Vulnerabilities to Protect Your Business Critical Assets | JupiterOne
October 16, 2024
Blog
Prioritizing Exploitable Vulnerabilities to Protect Your Business Critical Assets

Vulnerability scanners flood teams with alerts, but CTEM helps prioritize based on exploitability and business impact, ensuring focus on the most critical threats.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Fix Your Flaws Before You Celebrate
October 3, 2024
Blog
Marketing wouldn't let me call this "Before Preaching, Stop Punching Yourself"

It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month, but before you send out those animated videos and "helpful" phishing tips, take a hard look at your own practices.

15 Mar 2022
Blog
One line headline, one line headline

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud eiut.

15 Mar 2022
Blog
One line headline, one line headline

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud eiut.

15 Mar 2022
Blog
One line headline, one line headline

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud eiut.