As we step into 2025, cybersecurity remains a top priority for organizations worldwide. Despite the overwhelming number of cyber threats, Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) must also grapple with budget constraints. Things may be improving on that front in the new year however, according to Forrester’s Budget Planning Survey 2024, cybersecurity budgets are defying general financial limitations. This resilience is driven by regulatory requirements, cyber insurance mandates, and heightened customer expectations around data protection. The report paints an optimistic picture of security budgets, with most leaders anticipating budget increases in 2025.  Notably, one in ten expect a substantial boost of over 10%.

But, how should CISOs spend their extra budget?

The power of prioritization

Most security teams have plenty of solutions that identify problems – In fact, we are seeing cybersecurity professionals burn out at alarming rates in part because they are faced with more vulnerabilities to fix than they have time in their day. Companies need a better way to prioritize where to spend their time. In fact, if companies focused their efforts on the 2% of their exposures which lie on chokepoints to their critical assets, they would eliminate the lion’s share of their risk. Enter Continuous Exposure Management (CEM).

With a Continuous Exposure Management solution, organizations will be able to see “choke points”, or points of convergence where exposures do lead to critical assets. Adopting this process results in lower costs associated with security breaches, helping organizations get the most value from limited cybersecurity budgets.

CEM seamlessly integrates proactive and prioritized security, ensuring a comprehensive approach to threat management. Harnessing current threat data also allows Continuous Exposure Management solutions to provide context-aware prioritization of threats – considering factors like asset criticality, threat intelligence, and exploitability, ensuring that company resources are focused on the most critical assets. Treating all exposures equally is not a sustainable practice and an inefficient one at that since the majority (74%) of exposures that afflict organizations lead to “dead ends.”

The challenge with traditional vulnerability management

While many companies choose Vulnerability Management tools to protect their sensitive data and critical infrastructure from sophisticated attacks, it is no longer the optimal solution. Traditional vulnerability management tools are insufficient to keep pace with the speed and complexity of today’s threats.

Traditional vulnerability management is inherently reactive, focusing on periodic scans and patch management, leaving organizations exposed to threats that arise between scans. While reactive cybersecurity measures are a necessary component of any security framework, they are not sufficient on their own. The bottom line is that proactive security measures are essential to ensure comprehensive protection against evolving risks.

Prioritization is broken in traditional vulnerability management and organizations are not focusing on what is truly important – an ineffective strategy for a company with budget constraints.

While traditional vulnerability management generates endless lists of exposures and fragmented processes that lack context, IT teams are left drowning in alerts, ineffectively prioritizing them, as the attacker moves through networks unhindered.

A Shift in Perspective

Continuous visibility is at the core of Continuous Exposure Management.

According to Forrester’s Total Economic Impact Study, there was a 90% reduction in the likelihood of a severe breach for organizations deploying proper Continuous Exposure Management solutions and a return on investment of up to 400%. Continuous Exposure Management enhances organizational efficiency by automating manual tasks, fostering collaboration between teams, and providing actionable threat intelligence.

By streamlining processes, maximizing security ROI, and improving risk reporting, CTEM enables organizations to proactively manage cybersecurity threats while optimizing resource allocation and supporting informed decision-making.

In 2025, organizations need to understand that a Continuous Exposure Management tool will have many long-term benefits in terms of reduced risk, improved resource allocation, and enhanced security effectiveness making it a worthwhile consideration for forward-thinking organizations. The shift in how organizations are considering their cybersecurity budgets represents a revolutionary shift in perspective. It’s not just about deploying a new tool, but rather about deploying a new ideology.

Proactivity, prioritization, and collaboration are key to any business that wants to ensure that its organization is continuing to enhance its security posture, improve operational efficiency, and better protect against evolving cyber threats.

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