I’ll be honest—security testing has a problem. And I’ve seen it play out the same way too many times.

A company brings in a red team or runs a penetration test. They get a massive report—pages and pages of vulnerabilities. The security team has a moment of panic, maybe a few heated meetings, and then… what happens?

Most of the time? Not much.

Some of the low-hanging fruit gets patched. A few critical issues make it into a security roadmap. The rest? It collects dust until the next round of testing rolls around. And then—surprise!—half of the same issues show up again.

Sound familiar?

This is the cycle we’re stuck in. And it’s why so many security programs, despite throwing money at offensive testing, aren’t actually getting any more secure.

One-and-Done Security Doesn’t Work

Think about it this way: If you only went to the gym once a year, would you expect to be in great shape? Of course not. But that’s exactly how a lot of companies approach security.

Testing once or twice a year isn’t enough—not when attackers are constantly finding new ways to break in. They don’t wait for your annual assessment. They don’t care about your compliance deadlines.

The companies that actually reduce risk aren’t the ones running the most tests. They’re the ones that treat security as a continuous process.

The Shift to Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)

Here’s the mindset shift: Stop treating security like a snapshot. Start treating it like an ongoing cycle.

The CTEM lifecycle consists of five key phases:

  • Scoping: Understanding the attack surface and identifying what needs to be assessed. Security teams should have a clear view of their assets, exposure points, and potential threats.
  • Discovery: Continuously identifying vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and potential attack paths. This isn’t just a one-time scan—it’s an ongoing effort to keep up with an evolving environment.
  • Prioritization: Not all vulnerabilities are equal. By analyzing exploitability, impact, and business context, security teams can focus on the risks that actually matter.
  • Validation: Testing real-world attack techniques to see how security controls hold up. This includes adversary simulations, breach and attack testing, and continuous validation of defenses.
  • Mobilization: Turning findings into actionable improvements. Security isn’t just about detecting problems—it’s about fixing them and strengthening resilience over time.

Connecting the Dots: How Continuous Offensive Security Enables CTEM

Here’s where most companies go wrong: They treat different security tests like separate projects instead of pieces of the same puzzle. Security teams need a way to connect the dots between different types of testing and make decisions based on the full picture.

Gaining Real-Time Visibility into Threat Exposure

One of the biggest challenges security leaders face is visibility. You can’t protect what you don’t know exists. Attackers don’t need fancy exploits if you leave the front door open. Identifying exposed assets, misconfigurations, and attack paths helps security teams cut off easy wins for attackers before they’re exploited.

Key Outcomes for Security Programs:

  • Identify unknown assets before attackers do.
  • Continuously monitor for misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and risky changes.
  • Align security investment with business priorities by assessing real-world risk.

CTEM Impact:

By incorporating real-time exposure management, organizations can proactively manage risk instead of reacting to breaches caused by unknown weaknesses. The ability to discover and assess external risks in real-time enables security leaders to make informed decisions about where to focus resources.

Validating Risk Through Real-World Testing

Once an organization understands its attack surface, the next step is validating the risk through real-world testing. A penetration test might find a dozen vulnerabilities—but which ones really matter? Testing against real-world attack techniques helps security teams understand which issues are actual risks, which provide an opportunity for lateral movement, and which ones just look bad on paper.

Key Outcomes for Security Programs:

  • Test security assumptions with evolving attacker tactics.
  • Measure effectiveness of security controls in real-world conditions.
  • Provide actionable insights that improve resilience over time.

CTEM Impact:

Continuous validation ensures that identified risks aren’t just theoretical—they are tested and validated in the context of the organization’s unique environment. This prevents security teams from spending time and resources remediating low-impact vulnerabilities while missing high-risk, exploitable weaknesses.

Emulating Real Threats to Strengthen Defenses

While exposure management and validation focus on identifying and testing security weaknesses, simulating real-world attacks takes security a step further by assessing how well an organization can detect and respond to real threats. You might have endpoint protection, network segmentation, and MFA—but have you tested whether those controls actually stop an attack?

Key Outcomes for Security Programs:

  • Evaluate incident detection and response capabilities.
  • Uncover security control failures that standard tests might miss.
  • Strengthen blue team readiness by integrating offensive insights into defensive strategies.

CTEM Impact:

Security is not just about identifying weaknesses—it’s about proactively hardening defenses and preparing for real-world attacks. By simulating realistic threats, organizations can ensure that security teams are battle-tested and ready to respond effectively when actual incidents occur.

Security That Actually Helps the Business

The best security programs don’t just protect data—they help the business make smarter decisions.

When security leaders can say, “Here’s our biggest exposure, here’s how likely it is to be exploited, and here’s what we’re doing about it,” that’s when CISOs get buy-in. That’s when the board stops seeing security as a money pit and starts seeing it as business resilience.

I once worked with a company that was convinced their biggest security risk was outdated software. Turns out, their biggest risk was a cloud misconfiguration that exposed critical data to the internet.

They never would have caught that in a one-off test. But because they were actively monitoring and validating their security posture continuously, they found it before an attacker did. That’s the difference.

The Bottom Line

Security isn’t a box to check. It’s not a once-a-year thing. It’s a constant, evolving battle—but one you can actually win if you approach it the right way.

If you’re stuck in the same old cycle of testing, reporting, and ignoring half of the results, it’s time for a change. Start thinking about security the way attackers do: as an ongoing process, not a one-time event.

That shift? That’s what separates the companies that get breached from the ones that stay ahead.

So—are you still running security on an annual schedule? Or are you actually managing risk? Because if you’re waiting for the next test to “see where you stand,” you’re already behind.