Sevco Glossary > Exposure Assessment Platform (EAP)
Exposure Assessment Platform (EAP)
By consolidating the capabilities of a traditional endpoint security solution and vulnerability prioritization tool (VPT), an Exposure Assessment Platform (EAP) empowers an organization to efficiently address its most critical security gaps by enabling the prioritization of vulnerabilities based on real-world impact. The 2024 Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for Security Operations identified EAPs as marking a significant advancement in security technology.
Organizations manage a vast array of assets, including hardware (servers, laptops, mobile devices, et.), software (applications, SaaS platforms), cloud services, IoT devices, users, and vulnerabilities. Traditional vulnerability management tools often fall short in providing the comprehensive visibility and proactive risk mitigation required to protect data from such a diverse set of sources. This is where an exposure assessment platform becomes essential.
An exposure assessment platform is a cybersecurity solution designed to continuously identify, assess, and prioritize security exposures—such as vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and other risks—across an organization’s entire IT infrastructure. By integrating with various discovery and assessment tools, EAPs provide a centralized view of high-risk exposures, enabling organizations to proactively manage potential threats before they can be exploited.
Benefits of implementing an exposure assessment platform:
- Proactive Cyber Risk Management: EAPs help organizations move beyond a traditional vulnerability management practice to a more proactive, risk-driven approach. EAPs enable security teams to focus on real, exploitable vulnerabilities by delivering comprehensive intelligence (and looking beyond CVEs) to help reduce the likelihood of successful attacks
- Increased Efficiency: By integrating with tools that have already been deployed and centralizing the data from those tools, EAPs provide actionable intelligence. EAPs enable organizations to improve vulnerability prioritization, take action on exposures that require immediate remediation, reduce response times, and increase operational efficiency.
- Targeted Mitigation: As EAPs highlight new and not-yet-remediated vulnerabilities, provide threat and exploit intelligence in addition to business content, the platforms enable organizations to ensure remediation strategies are aligned with business operation.
By implementing an exposure assessment platform, organizations can take a strategic step towards comprehensive and proactive risk reduction. By leveraging the capabilities of EAPs, organizations can enhance visibility into their complex environments, prioritize risk, and fortify their defenses against the ever-evolving threat landscape.
Exposure assessment platforms are integral to Continuous Threat Exposure Management (see CTEM) and support its five core phases—scoping, discovery, prioritization, validation, and mobilization. By integrating an EAP into the CTEM framework, organizations can proactively manage their attack surface and continuously validate their security posture, ensuring a robust and comprehensive security strategy.