I recently spoke with Brandon Pinzon, former SVP and Chief Security Officer at the Argo Group about exposure management. Brandon is a highly respected security executive, member of multiple boards, advisor, and speaker.
Today, we discuss how effective exposure management is about more than just identifying CVEs or patching known issues—it’s about understanding the full context of the assets, vulnerabilities, and business operations to drive meaningful action. As Brandon and I discuss, organizations need to shift from a reactive mindset to a proactive one, incorporating factors such as asset management, misconfigurations, release cycles, business operations, etc. to gain a complete picture of exposure.
With the variety of tools and data sources today—whether it’s traditional vulnerability scanners or endpoint solutions—it’s critical to correlate and normalize across inputs to eliminate blind spots. Organizations don’t currently have a single source of truth when it comes to CVEs, so combining perspectives from multiple sources is essential for true exposure management.
For organizations still maturing their programs, we’ve found that the biggest pain points stem from poor asset management and poor vulnerability management. The key is continuously asking, “How do we know we have it all?” and leveraging automation where possible to isolate risks and prioritize remediation. This holistic approach to exposure management is what allows teams to stay ahead of threats and manage risk effectively.