Operationalizing CTEM: How ASM, AEV, and PTaaS Form a CTEM-Aligned Tech Stack

Enterprises are under more pressure than ever to move beyond reactive security and implement proactive, continuous defense strategies. This shift has given further rise to Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) to bring structure and cadence to how enterprises discover, prioritize, validate, and mobilize responses to security exposures.

But while CTEM provides the framework, success hinges on operationalizing it with the right capabilities. Three categories: Attack Surface Management (ASM), Adversarial Exposure Validation (AEV), and adjacent category Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) all can form the backbone of a CTEM-aligned tech stack.

Each has a distinct function:

• ASM identifies what’s exposed.
• AEV confirms how that exposure could be exploited.
• PTaaS supplements with flexible expertise and capacity.

Together, they enable a continuous, threat-informed, and outcome-driven program that helps enterprises validate real business risk, at scale.

Why CTEM Needs More Than Scans

Traditional security testing has relied on vulnerability management (VM) and annual penetration tests. Both are vital but incomplete.

VM scans often generate thousands of findings, many of which are theoretical and lack business context. Meanwhile, annual or ad hoc pentests offer only a snapshot in time, and are often delayed by procurement, scope creep, or lack of internal resources.

CTEM shifts this focus by introducing continuous testing, enhanced visibility, validation, and actionable prioritization into the security lifecycle. But this requires a set of mutually reinforcing technologies that deliver:

• Continuous asset visibility.
• Threat-informed prioritization.
• Real-world exploit simulation.
• Integration into operational workflows.

This is where ASM, AEV, and PTaaS come in – not as point solutions, but as pillars of an operationalized CTEM-aligned tech stack and program.

ASM: Building the Baseline with Continuous Visibility

The CTEM lifecycle begins with discovery, and Attack Surface Management (ASM) tools are foundational in this phase. ASM provides persistent visibility into what assets are exposed – internally and externally – and their associated risks.

Unlike traditional asset management, ASM tools are designed to:

• Continuously monitor changes to infrastructure (e.g., new cloud instances, APIs, subdomains).
• Classify assets by business function and criticality.
• Contextualize findings with threat intelligence and vulnerability data.

ASM enables security teams to build a “living map” of their digital footprint, uncovering misconfigurations, shadow IT, Dark Web exposure, and vulnerable systems before attackers do.

Why does this matter? Without ASM, enterprises are blind to what’s in scope. You can’t manage (or validate) what you don’t know exists.

AEV: The Validation Layer of CTEM

Discovery alone isn’t enough. What CTEM truly demands is validation – proof that exposures represent real business risk. This is where Adversarial Exposure Validation (AEV) enters the picture. AEV precisely includes tools, technologies, and solutions. An AEV platform implies a unified product when many AEV capabilities may be delivered across multiple tools or services.

AEV tools go beyond static scanning by:

• Simulating real-world attack scenarios across the full kill chain.
• Performing autonomous red teaming to test controls and lateral movement paths.
• Validating exposures against actual defenses, including EDR, XDR, IAM, and segmentation controls.
• Delivering empirical evidence, such as Proof of Concepts (POCs), not just CVSS scores.

Rather than asking “What could go wrong?” AEV shows you exactly how it would go wrong and whether your defenses would detect or stop it.

In a mature CTEM program, AEV acts as the execution layer. It turns asset and vulnerability data into action by confirming which paths are viable for attackers, which controls fail, and what exposures need immediate remediation.

Key capabilities include:

• Scenario-based testing aligned to MITRE ATT&CK.
• Continuous validation with scheduled simulations.
• Attack path mapping and prioritization.
• Integration into workflows (ticketing, SIEM, SOAR).

Business outcome: AEV delivers confidence that your environment is tested continuously, not just compliant on paper, but defensible in practice.

PTaaS: An Adjacent Ally for Scaling Validation

While AEV tools are powerful, not every enterprise is equipped to run them effectively, especially in the early stages of CTEM maturity. This is where Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) becomes an essential supplemental technology.

PTaaS providers deliver:

• On-demand or continuous offensive testing.
• Hybrid human-led and automated testing models.
• Control validation across cloud, network, applications, and APIs.
• Testing expertise without the overhead of in-house red teams; however, some providers now offer autonomous red teaming for scale and reduced costs.

PTaaS offerings often sit atop AEV-like platforms, allowing providers to validate exposures at scale while layering on expert analysis, retesting, and business risk reporting.

For enterprises lacking in-house offensive security capabilities, PTaaS helps bridge the gap. It enables validation to remain continuous, even as internal teams grow capacity.

Use cases include:

• Extending red teaming capacity.
• Control validation for compliance (e.g., NIS2, DORA, PCI).
• Testing high-risk changes (e.g., cloud migration, new supply chain vendors, M&A).
• Supporting zero trust or segmentation projects.

Business benefits: PTaaS helps CTEM programs remain agile and resource-efficient without sacrificing depth or expertise.

Putting It All Together: A Real-World Example

Imagine a financial service company migrating key applications to the cloud. With CTEM in place, here’s how the tech stack operates:

1. ASM discovers a misconfigured S3 bucket and new cloud-hosted APIs exposed to the internet.
2. AEV runs an attack scenario simulating unauthorized access, lateral movement, and data exfiltration via cloud misconfiguration.
3. The validation confirms not only is the exposure real, but it also bypasses IAM policies and reaches sensitive backend systems.
4. PTaaS is engaged to retest and validate remediation effectiveness post-fix while performing a broader assessment of cloud controls.

This full lifecycle – from discovery to validation to assurance – is CTEM in action.

Business Outcomes of an Operational CTEM-Align Tech Stack

With ASM, AEV, and PTaaS working together, enterprises can expect:

• Faster Remediation: Prioritize based on validated risk, not theoretical CVEs.
• Stronger security posture: Test and tune controls with real-world scenarios.
• Defensible risk reporting: Provide empirical evidence to boards and regulators.
• Improved ROI: Validate which vendors and tools perform as promised.
• Program maturity: Shift from reactive mitigation to proactive validation and optimization.

Conclusion

CTEM isn’t a tool – it’s a program backed by execution. Implementing CTEM isn’t about adding another dashboard. It’s about building a continuously adaptive security program. ASM shows you what matters. AEV confirms what’s truly at risk. PTaaS helps scale and assure that your enterprise is validated, not vulnerable.

Cyber risk is board-level risk. Enterprises need more than alerts and audits. They need validation. CTEM backed by ASM, AEV, and PTaaS delivers it.

Author



Ann Chesbrough

Vice President of Product Marketing, BreachLock