As we approach RSA Conference 2025 in San Francisco later this month, Security Posture Management (SPM) is shaping up to be the latest “must-have” in the cybersecurity strategy toolkit. With recent acquisitions like Avalor, DeepSurface, Dassana, and Wiz, it’s clear that the industry is betting big on SPM. But is it living up to the hype—or practitioner expectations?
The CISO Executive Network, led by founder Bill Sieglein, recently convened nearly 100 members in a roundtable series exploring the SPM landscape. Early feedback suggests that while interest is high, confidence in the market is mixed. Among subcategories like AI-SPM, Application-SPM, Cloud-SPM, Data-SPM, Identity-SPM, and SaaS-SPM, participants expressed skepticism that all will gain traction or deliver true value. In short, the SPM market remains nascent, and real-world demand may be lower than vendors are hoping.
What is Security Posture Management?
Security monitoring generates massive volumes of data—but raw data alone does not drive effective decisions. What organizations really need are prioritized, actionable insights, derived by correlating security signals with business risk and criticality.
Traditional integrations between security tools are often vendor-specific or standards-based, but most commonly routed through SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) systems. SIEMs collect and normalize events, which can then be actioned by SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) platforms. However, not all relevant data is ingested, and even when it is, contextual gaps and data fidelity issues can compromise its reliability.
This is where Security Posture Management (SPM)—also known as Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)—enters the conversation. SPM is a proactive, programmatic approach designed to bolster cyber resilience by continuously assessing, prioritizing, and addressing vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. It is important to note that SPM is not a product, it is a framework. Despite what vendor marketing may suggest, no one solution delivers a complete SPM program out of the box.
Core Components of SPM
An effective Security Posture Management strategy typically includes:
- Continuous Monitoring: Ongoing scans and assessments to detect vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
- Visibility and Control: Insight into configurations and key infrastructure components for better decision-making.
- Prioritization: Correlating threats with business impact to focus on the highest-risk issues.
- Automated Remediation: Resolving vulnerabilities and misconfigurations with minimal human intervention.
- Compliance Reporting: Generating dashboards and reports to demonstrate adherence to regulatory standards.
Fragmentation in the SPM Landscape
The current SPM vendor ecosystem is highly fragmented. Most tools focus on a narrow slice of the attack surface, adding to the complexity rather than solving the broader visibility challenge. Below are the emerging subcategories:
- AI Security Posture Management (AI-SPM): Secures AI models, pipelines, data, and services to safely integrate AI into cloud environments.
- Application Security Posture Management (ASPM): Provides a unified view across the software development cycle to identify and prioritize application-level vulnerabilities.
- Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM): Focuses on detecting risks and misconfigurations in cloud infrastructure.
- Data Security Posture Management (DSPM): Emphasizes the discovery, classification, and governance of sensitive cloud data.
- Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM): Strengthens identity systems to reduce the risk of credential-based attacks.
- SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM): Offers visibility into SaaS configurations and usage to enforce policy and compliance.
Just a Myth?
If we play devil’s advocate, many organizations already use tools that provide visibility across key components of their attack surface—think IAM, EDR, DLP. So, the question becomes: Do we really need another siloed solution to make sense of the data deluge?
Or should organizations explore cybersecurity mesh architecture, as advocated by Gartner? A mesh enables tools to interoperate more intelligently, exchanging context and extending influence across domains without tight integrations—essentially forming a loosely coupled but highly connected fabric.
Maybe It is Time for “Basic” Security Posture Management
Until the market matures, and clear SPM winners emerge, CISO Executive Network members suggest starting with the fundamentals—a concept they half-jokingly call “Basic Security Posture Management (BSPM).” These foundational steps still do the heavy lifting when it comes to preventing breaches:
- Automate asset inventory and lifecycle management.
- Define and enforce policies, procedures, and access controls.
- Regularly train employees on security awareness.
- Prioritize tools that detect and defend against common adversary tactics (e.g., identity and endpoint security).
- Maintain compliance with relevant industry standards and regulations.
Final Thoughts
While the SPM buzz is real, its long-term viability depends on whether it can deliver measurable outcomes without adding more complexity. For now, a back-to-basics approach might be the most effective way to improve your organization’s security posture—no shiny new acronym required.
