The modern attack surface is constantly expanding. Legacy systems, third-party networks, digital transformation initiatives, expansion to the cloud and hybrid working combine to create a larger-than-ever attack surface area.

Across this attack surface are an overwhelming number of vulnerabilities, weak security controls and misconfigurations that expose your organisation to attack.

This is why organisations in 2025 need to find a better way to face this challenge and protect their exposure – and critical data. Here are our top four tips for managing your exposure to threats and vulnerabilities and enhancing cyber resilience.

1. Focus on the key business applications

Every organisation should define its key business applications and associated components. Take the example of a credit-scoring business application. Assume the application comprises five servers running two different operating systems, an instance of the Oracle database, some middleware and three web servers across a complex network infrastructure. If the credit-scoring application is vital to the business, then it and all its constituent elements (the full technology stack) should be viewed together from the perspective of managing the application’s exposure.

A continuous exposure management (CEM) platform that includes cyber asset attack surface management (CAASM) capabilities provides this application-centric view of the assets in the estate. This type of technology defines the business applications in the organisation including all their constituent elements.

In environments where an application’s responsibility has been devolved from a centralised IT function, the CEM platform also enables you to record the application’s business owner(s), which can be vital to ensuring the application’s security and business goals are aligned.

Once you’ve defined the key business applications, you quantify their importance; this is vital to prioritising vulnerabilities and helps teams better manage the remediation process. Look for a solution that assists you in quantifying the application’s importance by, for example, using Cyber Risk Quantification (CRQ) based on the Factor Analysis of Information Risk (Fair) model to assess and quantify risk in business (monetary) terms.

2. Look beyond the scanning cycle

Vulnerability scanners provide awareness of vulnerabilities in your environment, but many organisations cannot scan promptly or regularly. Scanners also don’t account for weak security controls or misconfigurations.

Get ahead of the scanning cycle by assessing your exposure using a vulnerability detector that automatically compares the applications in the estate with the latest threat intelligence to identify precisely what exposures are present on each key business application, as defined in your CAASM solution. This approach means you can include “unscannable” applications, such as those with assets unsupported by scanners or segregated with air gaps in the exposure assessment.

The best threat intelligence services de-duplicate and aggregate data from multiple sources to provide insights into business application vulnerabilities before scanning. This will enable you to instantly view the latest exposures in your business applications and plan remediations accordingly.

3. Prioritise the exposures that matter most to your applications

Many vulnerability scanner solutions allow users to prioritise what needs to be addressed based on industry-standard metrics such as severity and current or possible future exploitability in the wild.

To effectively manage the exposures that matter most to your applications, this rudimentary approach needs to be augmented with multifactor prioritisation that considers not only industry-standard metrics but also factors unique to the business application.

Look for an exposure management solution that prioritises exposures based on the application’s business importance and all its constituent asset elements. A good exposure management solution assesses the extent to which a business application and its constituent elements are exposed to attack across the network, something that is only possible with a detailed understanding of the network, access routes and rules.

4. Target the remediation process

Many organisations’ standard scanning and patching cycles can take weeks or months to complete. However, if you’ve identified the key business applications, their constituent elements and the business owners responsible for them, it’s far easier to target the applications that matter to the business and actively manage the remediation process.

An effective exposure management solution offers a choice of prescriptive vulnerability remediations, including patches and software upgrades, IPS signature updates and firewall rule changes.

Conclusion

Key business application responsibility is fast becoming decentralised and assigned to individual business owners.

The Skybox Continuous Exposure Management platform provides business owners with complete visibility of their applications, their individual product components, the threats and vulnerabilities they are exposed to, and how best to mitigate them.

Learn how Skybox can help you manage the exposure of your business applications. Speak with an expert.

About Skybox Security
Over 500 of the largest and most security-conscious enterprises in the world rely on Skybox for the insights and assurance required to stay ahead of dynamically changing attack surfaces. Our software as a service-based Exposure Management Platform delivers complete visibility, analytics and automation to quickly map, prioritise and remediate vulnerabilities across your organisation.