Continuous threat exposure management, run by an offensive team.
We run your CTEM program as a recurring cycle: we scope what matters to the business, find and rank exposures, prove which ones an attacker can really use and follow every fix through to the next cycle.
A cycle, not a snapshot
Continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) is the model Gartner proposed to move beyond periodic, scanner-driven vulnerability management. Instead of a yearly test and a long list of CVEs, it runs a cycle that decides what matters, finds what is exposed, proves what an attacker could exploit and gets it fixed, then starts again.
Validation is often the hardest stage to staff: proving which exposures form a real attack path takes offensive skills that tools alone do not provide, and it is where an offensive team helps most. We run every stage with our service lines, validate with penetration testing, red teaming and breach and attack simulation, and use BackBox AI to keep validating between engagements.
CTEM Program Continuous threat exposure management
- Business-driven scoping of each cycle
- Attack surface discovery and vulnerability assessment
- Prioritization by exploitability and business impact
- Validation with penetration testing, red teaming and BAS
- Scheduled attack path validation with BackBox AI
- Remediation planning, retests and cycle metrics
Outcomes
- Exposure measured over time, cycle after cycle
- Fixes focused on exploitable attack paths
- Controls tested against real attack techniques
- Evidence for NIS2 and DORA risk management
From scoping to mobilization, five stages.
Each cycle follows the five CTEM stages and ends where the next one begins, so exposure is measured over time.
Scoping
We agree the business-critical scope of the cycle, such as the external attack surface, a key application or a cloud estate, and what a good outcome looks like.
Discovery
Attack surface discovery and vulnerability assessment inventory assets, vulnerabilities, misconfigurations and identity weaknesses within the scope.
Prioritization
Exposures are ranked by exploitability and business impact, with CVSS adjusted to your context and evidence of exploitation in the wild, such as the CISA KEV catalog.
Validation
Penetration testing, red teaming and breach and attack simulation prove which exposures chain into a real attack path and whether your controls detect it. Between engagements, BackBox AI repeats the checks.
Mobilization
A remediation plan agreed with the teams that own the fixes, retests that confirm them and metrics that carry over to the next cycle.
Built on the CTEM model.
The program follows the five stages of the CTEM model described by Gartner. Validation draws on breach and attack simulation (BAS) and on adversarial exposure validation (AEV), the category Gartner defined in a 2025 market guide. Findings are mapped to MITRE ATT&CK, scored with CVSS and weighted with the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and each cycle documents the risk management and testing that NIS2 and DORA expect.
BackBox AI is the validation engine of the program: it retests attack paths on a schedule as the environment changes, while operators verify every result and focus on the paths that matter.
Frameworks and references
CTEM, common questions.
What is CTEM?
A program rather than a product: a recurring cycle in five stages (scoping, discovery, prioritization, validation and mobilization) that keeps an organization's exposure to attack under control and gets fixed first what an attacker could actually exploit.
How is CTEM different from vulnerability management?
Vulnerability management works through scanner findings, usually by severity. CTEM widens the view to every kind of exposure, including misconfigurations, identities and third-party assets, ranks it by business impact and adds validation: proof of which exposures an attacker can really exploit, before anyone spends time on the rest.
What are BAS and AEV, and where do they fit?
Breach and attack simulation (BAS) runs attack techniques against your security controls to check whether they block or detect them. Adversarial exposure validation (AEV) is the broader category: Gartner defines it as technologies that deliver consistent, continuous and automated evidence of the feasibility of an attack. Both belong to the validation stage of CTEM, alongside manual penetration testing and red teaming.
How often does a CTEM cycle run?
It depends on how fast your environment changes. Quarterly cycles on the most critical scopes are a common start, with BackBox AI validating in between and an extra cycle after every significant change.
Do we still need penetration tests if we run CTEM?
Yes. Penetration tests are the deepest form of validation and remain part of the program. CTEM adds what a single test cannot: continuous discovery, priorities set by business impact and every fix tracked from one cycle to the next, so each test starts from a measured baseline.