CTEM Framework

Continuous Threat Exposure Management — a measurable program that reduces breach risk by up to 69%.

What is CTEM

From point tools to a continuous program

CTEM is Gartner’s framework for treating exposure management as an ongoing operational discipline — not a quarterly scan. It moves organizations from reactive patching to proactive, business-aligned risk reduction.

Marlinix delivers CTEM end-to-end, combining Klearis CDR, ZeroVault RBVM, Picus (Breach & Attack Simulation) and Binalyze (TDIR) into a single operating model.

69%
reduction in breach risk for mature CTEM programs
150–300%
typical ROI on a fully deployed CTEM program
Why CTEM matters

The economics of exposure

Security teams cannot patch their way out of risk. CTEM accepts that reality and replaces vulnerability whack-a-mole with a continuous loop that focuses resources on the exposures that move business risk.

Continuous, not periodic

Risk is re-evaluated continuously as the environment, the threat landscape and your business change.

Adversary-centric

Validated against how real attackers would actually behave — through BAS, red teaming and threat intel.

Business-aligned

Crown jewels and business processes drive scoping. Security work follows business value.

Measurable

Every cycle produces metrics on exposure reduction, time-to-remediate and validated risk.

The framework

The five steps of CTEM

A continuous loop that turns exposure management into an operational discipline.

01

Scoping

Define the crown jewels, business processes and digital assets that matter most. Set the boundaries of the exposure program.

02

Discovery

Continuously discover assets, identities and exposures across the in-scope perimeter — internal, external and OT.

03

Prioritization

Rank exposures by exploitability, business impact and attack-path proximity to crown jewels.

04

Validation

Validate that controls actually stop the prioritized attack paths — via BAS, red teaming and live testing.

05

Mobilization

Mobilize engineering, IT and business owners to remediate, mitigate or accept — and measure the result.

How Marlinix delivers CTEM

The capability map

Each step of CTEM is delivered by a specific capability in the Marlinix portfolio.

CTEM Step Marlinix Capability What it does
ScopingAdvisory + ZeroVaultIdentify crown jewels and business-critical assets
DiscoveryZern + ZeroVaultMap external and internal exposures continuously
PrioritizationZeroVault RBVMScore by attack-path proximity and business impact
ValidationPicus BAS + Red TeamTest that controls stop the prioritized paths
MobilizationBinalyze TDIR + KlearisDrive response and ongoing prevention

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