What Is Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) and Why It Matters in 2025

Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT problem; it is a critical business function. As digital transformation accelerates and the attack surface expands, organisations face increasingly sophisticated cyber threats that demand a new approach to defence. In 2025, Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) has emerged as a crucial strategy to keep up with the evolving threat landscape.

Recent trends such as AI-driven malware, deepfake phishing, and zero-day exploits have made traditional, static security practices insufficient. Cyberattacks are now faster and more targeted, often bypassing legacy security measures. This blog is tailored for IT professionals, cybersecurity leaders, and business decision-makers who want to understand and implement CTEM to future-proof their cybersecurity posture.

Continuous Threat Exposure Management is a proactive cybersecurity approach that identifies, evaluates, and mitigates risks in real time. Unlike periodic vulnerability assessments, CTEM ensures that organisations maintain continuous visibility over their entire digital ecosystem, allowing for immediate response to emerging threats.

Everyday Explanation

Imagine your business is a large office building. Traditional cybersecurity might involve security staff checking all the doors and windows once every few months. CTEM, however, is like installing a smart surveillance system that continuously monitors every entry point, alerts you to suspicious activity, and even tests the building's defences to see where an intruder could break in.

Why CTEM Matters Now

In 2025, the digital attack surface is larger and more complex than ever. Cloud environments, IoT devices, remote work setups, and third-party integrations all create new vectors for attack. Organisations can no longer afford to wait for quarterly audits to find vulnerabilities. Real-time, continuous assessment is the only way to stay ahead of modern cyber threats.

According to Gartner (2022), organisations that prioritise CTEM are three times less likely to experience a security breach. This statistic alone highlights the strategic importance of shifting to a CTEM model.

Common Threats or Challenges

Ignoring CTEM exposes organisations to a range of risks that could have serious financial, operational, and reputational consequences.

Key Risks

Zero-day vulnerabilities: Exploited before patches are released.
Shadow IT: Unauthorised apps and devices often go unnoticed.
Phishing and Business Email Compromise (BEC): Still the most common attack vector.
Third-party risks: Vendors and partners might inadvertently introduce threats.

To effectively manage continuous threat exposure, organisations must adopt a comprehensive, structured approach.

Steps to Implement CTEM

1. Asset Mapping:

Effective cybersecurity begins with complete visibility. Asset mapping involves cataloguing every digital asset within your organisation, including on-premises infrastructure, cloud workloads, mobile devices, remote endpoints, and IoT components. This step ensures that no device, application, or system goes unnoticed or unprotected. Without an accurate inventory, organisations risk leaving critical entry points exposed to attackers.

2. Vulnerability Scanning:

Once assets are identified, continuous vulnerability scanning becomes essential. Automated tools regularly inspect systems for known flaws, misconfigurations, outdated software, and missing patches. Unlike traditional scans performed quarterly or annually, continuous scanning detects new vulnerabilities as they arise, reducing the window of exposure and enabling timely remediation.

3. Risk-Based Prioritisation:

Not all vulnerabilities pose the same threat. Risk-based prioritisation evaluates the potential impact of each exposure in the context of business operations, threat intelligence, and exploitability. By focusing resources on the most critical issues, those most likely to be exploited and cause significant harm, security teams can act efficiently and effectively.

4. Continuous Validation:

Simulated attacks, such as breach and attack simulations or red teaming, help organisations validate their defences in real-world scenarios. This step ensures that protective controls actually work as intended and offers opportunities to refine incident response plans based on evidence, not assumptions.

A successful Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) strategy is underpinned by proven frameworks and tools that provide structure, consistency, and best practices. Three of the most relevant and widely adopted in 2025 are the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, Cyber Essentials, and the MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base.

NIST Cybersecurity Framework

Developed by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, this framework offers a flexible, risk-based approach to managing cybersecurity. It is structured around five key functions — Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover — that guide organisations in building and maintaining robust security postures. Its adaptability makes it suitable for both large enterprises and smaller organisations across various sectors.

Cyber Essentials

This UK government-backed scheme sets out a baseline of technical controls designed to protect against the most common cyber threats. It covers five key areas: firewalls, secure configuration, user access control, malware protection, and patch management. Certification demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to cybersecurity and is increasingly required in public sector contracts.

MITRE ATT&CK

MITRE ATT&CK is a globally recognised knowledge base that maps real-world adversary behaviours. It categorises attack techniques and tactics, helping organisations anticipate attacker actions and align their defences accordingly. It is invaluable for red teaming, threat hunting, and improving detection and response strategies.

Cybergen recommends a layered approach that integrates threat intelligence, automation, and contextual risk analysis. This ensures that defences are not only in place but effective and aligned with evolving threats.

The Cybergen Approach

1. From Reactive to Proactive

Historically, cybersecurity focused on reacting to threats after they had occurred. This reactive stance is no longer viable. Cybergen helps organisations shift to a proactive posture through CTEM, enabling real-time risk mitigation.

2. What is CTEM?

CTEM is a continuously evolving programme that combines:

Asset Discovery: Know what you need to protect.
Threat Intelligence: Understand emerging risks.
Prioritisation: Focus on what matters most.
Validation: Simulate breaches to test resilience.

CTEM is a dynamic, continuously evolving programme designed to keep pace with today’s rapidly shifting threat landscape. It starts with Asset Discovery, ensuring that every device, application, and data point within your digital estate is accounted for and visible.

With Threat Intelligence, CTEM identifies and monitors emerging threats, giving organisations early warning of potential risks. Prioritisation ensures that resources are focused on the most critical vulnerabilities, factoring in exploitability and business impact. Finally, Validation involves simulating real-world attacks through red teaming or breach simulations, helping verify whether existing security controls are effective and uncovering gaps before adversaries do.

CTEM complements existing vulnerability management and threat intelligence systems, enhancing their effectiveness.

3. Why Your Organisation Needs CTEM Now

Larger Attack Surfaces: The more digital assets, the more opportunities for attackers.
Cyber Insurance: Underwriters are increasingly demanding evidence of proactive security.
Regulatory Pressures: Frameworks like DORA and NIS2 require dynamic risk management.

4. Core Components of CTEM

Asset Visibility: Central to identifying exposures.
Risk-Based Prioritisation: Avoid wasting time on low-impact vulnerabilities.
Continuous Validation: Red-teaming, penetration tests, and simulations ensure your defences are battle-tested.

5. CTEM vs Traditional Risk Assessments

Feature	CTEM	Traditional Risk Assessment
Frequency	Continuous	Periodic (monthly or annually)
Focus	Real-world threats	Hypothetical risks
Automation	High	Low
Response Time	Immediate	Delayed

In 2025, Continuous Threat Exposure Management is a must-have strategy for any organisation serious about cybersecurity. As threats become more frequent and sophisticated, a proactive, continuous approach is the only effective way to defend against them.

Cybergen offers a robust CTEM solution that empowers businesses to understand, prioritise, and eliminate risk exposures in real time. Our tools and services help you gain control over your digital ecosystem, meet regulatory requirements, and protect your organisation from costly breaches.

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When Cyberattack Meets Industry: The JLR Case and What It Means for UK’s Auto Sector

September 15, 2025

When Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) was hit by a cyberattack, the ripple effects were immediate—not only shutting down its own production, but dragging much of its supply chain into uncertainty and putting thousands of jobs at risk. The story has raised important questions about how the UK protects key industries, supports workers, and builds resilience to digital threats. What Happened JLR had to halt production because its vital systems were compromised by the cyberattack. Sky News reports the shutdown has already lasted 12 days. The disruption isn’t confined to its own factories; many smaller suppliers (in JLR’s upstream and downstream networks) are also severely affected. Some suppliers have temporarily laid off around 6,000 staff . Workers at JLR itself (around 34,000 in the UK) remain off-work while the company restores systems. Key unions and the Business & Trade Committee (a group of MPs) are pushing for government intervention, calling for COVID-style financial support to help the supply chain and prevent loss of jobs. Why This Matters Supply Chain Fragility The incident underscores how tightly interwoven modern manufacturing is. Even when only one big firm is attacked, the effect cascades across dozens of smaller suppliers. Cashflow disruption in these smaller firms can lead to layoffs, insolvency, and loss of skills. Digital Risk Is Industrial Risk Cyberattacks aren’t just an IT problem. When companies rely on digital systems for production scheduling, hardware control, robotics, cross-site networks or cloud services, any breakdown can stop physical manufacturing altogether. Workers at the Brink Employees in smaller firms, often with fewer resources and less buffer capital, are particularly vulnerable. With no production and no income, many are under immediate financial stress. Policy & Government Role The calls from MPs for emergency schemes are reminiscent of measures used during COVID-19, meant to protect workers and businesses through unprecedented disruption. Such interventions are costly and complex, but may be essential to preserve industrial capacity in critical sectors. Reputation, Trust & Resilience Disruption of this kind damages not just immediate output, but also long-term trust with suppliers, investors, and customers. How fast a firm recovers—and how transparently it handles the attack—matters. What’s Being Proposed The Business & Trade Committee has asked Chancellor Rachel Reeves what kind of support is being offered to JLR’s suppliers to “mitigate the risk of significant long-term commercial damage.” Trade union Unite has suggested introducing a temporary furlough-style scheme specifically for workers in the supply chain. The idea is to preserve jobs while production is down. What Questions Remain How extensive is the damage to JLR’s systems, and how long will recovery take? The longer downtime goes on, the greater the economic risk. Which suppliers are most exposed, and how many might not survive prolonged cashflow disruption? What legal/regulatory obligations does JLR have to its suppliers versus its employees during such an attack? What kind of support package will the government realistically offer—will it be reactive, or will it structure something that gives industry confidence there’s a safety net? How will this event change how other companies plan for cyber resilience and business continuity? Lessons & Takeaways for Industry Prepare for Worst-Case Downtime : Firms need robust continuity plans. Not just backup of data, but plans for restoring production safely, fallback procurement options, etc. Ensure Adequate Cyber Defences : This includes not only perimeter protection but also rapid detection, segmentation (so problems in one system don’t immediately spread), and patching. Supply Chain Visibility : Know your suppliers well: their vulnerabilities, financial health, and contingency plans. If many small suppliers go under, the big OEMs feel the pain. Insurance & Risk Sharing : Evaluate whether cyber risk insurance can cover parts of the losses; maybe explore contractual risk sharing in the supply chain. Advocacy & Policy Engagement : Businesses need to work with government to design support mechanisms that can be deployed in these kinds of emergencies—both to protect industry and the workforce. What This Means Going Forward The JLR incident is likely to be a wake-up call. It shines a light on how modern industrial strength depends heavily on digital stability and resilient supply chains. For workers and smaller suppliers, the stakes are very high. The government’s response will test how well policy keeps up with the new kinds of risk in a tech-infused manufacturing age. For Jaguar Land Rover and its partners, this could bring into sharper focus investment in cyber resiliency, revisiting insurance, revising contracts with suppliers, and being proactive with contingency planning. Summary Jaguar Land Rover’s cyberattack is more than a headline; it’s a case study in how digital vulnerabilities can threaten real-world operations, jobs, and economic stability. As the UK grapples with how best to support its industrial base, it must weigh up not just the immediate financial aid, but the wider architecture of resilience: legal, technological, and economic.