The Future of Offensive Cybersecurity: Embracing Proactive Defense

If your cybersecurity system has a weakness, you need to identify it before hackers do. Offensive cybersecurity aims to achieve this by empowering organizations to be proactive — rather than reactive — when defending their digital infrastructure from assaults.

“For decades, cybersecurity measures have been focused on detection and reaction,” says Justin Copeland, Director of Product Marketing for Praetorian, “but that approach only leaves you constantly one step behind cyber attackers. Staying secure in today’s threat landscape requires taking a proactive stance on cyber security. By focusing on prevention, you can ensure you have the system you need to repel attacks.”

Praetorian is a global leader in proactive cyber security controls whose services, which identify and address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited, are trusted by over 25 percent of Fortune 500 companies. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and other iconic brands look to Praetorian to ensure their data is secure.

“By identifying vulnerabilities before hackers know they exist, companies can stop breaches before they occur,” Copeland explains. “That is the type of security Praetorian brings to business operations. We have an adversarial DNA that fuels a proven prevention-first strategy. Our team gets in the trenches to deliver the insights needed to protect our clients’ business data and digital environments.”

The need for proactive cybersecurity

Reactive measures seek to contain a breach, limiting the damage it can cause. If breaches can be caught immediately, the damage can be kept to a minimum. Unfortunately, that rarely happens.

According to a 2022 IBM study, it takes an average of 207 days to identify that a breach has occurred. Add to that the average 70 days it takes to contain a breach, and you have more than 9 months during which bad actors have unauthorized access to systems and their data and cause an immeasurable amount of damage.

With a proactive approach, however, the gaps that allow for unauthorized and unnoticed access to a system are filled before they become a problem.

“Statistics suggest a cyber attack occurs once every 39 seconds,” says Copeland, “which means companies must be beyond vigilant to avoid a breach. Praetorian ensures vigilance by providing ongoing, rigorous testing of security defenses from an adversarial perspective.”

Praetorian’s holistic approach to security

Praetorian provides its clients with unparalleled security coverage by delivering cutting-edge Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM). Its Chariot platform is reshaping CTEM by combining attack surface management, vulnerability management, breach and attack simulation, continuous penetration testing, and exploit intelligence into a unified managed service platform.

“Chariot is designed to provide a holistic approach to CTEM,” Copeland explains. “It combines people, process, and technology through the power of our proprietary automated platform.”

Chariot also excels because of the human insights and experience that contributed to its development. The Praetorian team is made up of highly skilled, certified, and customer-obsessed engineers whose members include recognized thought leaders, conference presenters, published authors, and open-source tool developers.

An efficient and comprehensive security solution

The Chariot system sets a new bar for cybersecurity by addressing complex security challenges with a cohesive, efficient, and effective solution.

“Companies suffer when they must try to manage fragmented point solutions and costly modules,” Copeland says. “To truly gain control of your security, you need to reduce complexity by deploying an all-in-one offensive platform.”

Praetorian’s efforts to improve an organization’s security posture begin with discovering its unique material risks. By assessing where the most critical data resides, Praetorian can focus its efforts on assets that are most vital to the organization. Armed with a company-specific risk analysis, it can identify all possible entry points attackers may exploit and proactively test them.

“We provide concrete evidence of vulnerabilities and their potential impact by conducting breach and attack simulations,” Copeland explains. “This demonstrates possible compromises rather than just theorizing how they could occur. We illustrate the real-world implications of identified threats to help companies understand the need for immediate action.”

The Chariot platform's efficiency is found in its ability to eliminate noise and focus solely on material risk. Managed service experts work hand-in-hand with the system to verify the accuracy and importance of every risk and only signal clients when it really matters, meaning companies don’t need to waste time or money responding to false alarms because there aren’t any.

“Our goal at Praetorian is to act as a force multiplier for your security team,” Copeland says. “We get to the problem spots before hackers do and deliver a solution, aligning your security strategy with best practices so you can consistently repel emerging threats. By releasing the power of Chariot within your organization, we give you what you need to embrace and deploy a proactive cybersecurity defense.”