AttackIQ has built its reputation as a leader in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS), helping organizations test and validate their security controls against known threats. Its platform enables security teams to assess their defenses, identify gaps, and refine their security posture through continuous testing. Now, the company is expanding its reach with the acquisition of DeepSurface, a security posture management firm specializing in vulnerability prioritization.
DeepSurface goes beyond identifying vulnerabilities by analyzing them in context—mapping attack paths, predicting potential breaches, and ranking risks based on actual exposure. This makes it a natural fit for AttackIQ’s mission of strengthening cybersecurity through proactive risk management.
By integrating DeepSurface, AttackIQ expands its BAS platform with Adversarial Exposure Validation (AEV), strengthening organizations' ability to manage cyber threats proactively.
What DeepSurface Brings to the Table
Traditional vulnerability management often floods security teams with raw data, leaving them to sort through thousands of potential weaknesses without clear guidance on which ones matter most. DeepSurface changes that by providing context. Instead of treating all vulnerabilities as equal, it evaluates them within the broader IT environment, considering factors like network architecture, user access, and business impact. This helps security teams focus on the exposures that pose the greatest real-world risk.
One of DeepSurface’s biggest strengths is its ability to map attack paths. By analyzing how an attacker could move through a network, it identifies potential breaches before they happen. This predictive capability allows organizations to take a proactive stance, addressing weak points before they become entry points for cybercriminals.
Vulnerability prioritization is a growing priority in modern cybersecurity. Security teams don’t just need to know what’s vulnerable, they need to know what’s exploitable and what poses the biggest threat to their operations. By integrating DeepSurface’s risk-based approach with AttackIQ’s BAS platform, organizations gain a clearer picture of where to focus their defenses.
“Security teams are inundated with exposure noise, all while the frequency and severity of bad actors is increasing exponentially," says Carl Wright, chief commercial officer at AttackIQ. "The need to generate true risk insights from security data has never been more apparent.”
Enhancing BAS with Adversarial Exposure Validation (AEV)
BAS has long been a powerful tool for testing security defenses against attack scenarios. But as threats evolve, organizations need more than just testing—they need a way to actively manage their exposure to cyber risk. That’s where AEV comes in. AEV goes beyond simulation, continuously assessing an organization’s attack surface and validating whether its security measures can withstand evolving threats.
By integrating DeepSurface’s vulnerability contextualization and attack path analysis with AttackIQ’s BAS platform, the company is taking a major step toward more proactive defense. Instead of reacting to security gaps after an attack, organizations can now anticipate them. DeepSurface’s ability to identify high-risk vulnerabilities and predict breach scenarios allows security teams to validate their defenses with greater precision.
“With AEV, we provide organizations with a proactive, intelligence-driven approach to identify and mitigate exposures before they can be exploited," Wright says. "This enables security teams to shift from reactive security to a continuously validated, threat-informed defense strategy.”
The Transition to Cyber Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)
Cyber threats are evolving too quickly for traditional security models to keep up. Static assessments and periodic vulnerability scans can’t account for the ever-changing tactics of attackers. This is why organizations are moving toward Cyber Threat Exposure Management (CTEM), a dynamic approach that continuously evaluates, prioritizes, and mitigates security risks based on threat intelligence.
CTEM builds on AEV by emphasizing automation and long-term risk reduction through continuous testing and validation. Security teams need to know not just where vulnerabilities exist but whether those weaknesses can actually be exploited. By incorporating attack path analysis and adversarial validation, CTEM helps organizations shift from reactive patching to proactive risk management. The goal is to expose weak points before attackers can, ensuring defenses hold up against real threats.
AttackIQ sees automation and scalability as key to making CTEM a reality. By integrating DeepSurface’s contextual risk analysis with its BAS platform, the company aims to help security teams manage exposure more efficiently. Instead of manually sifting through vulnerability reports, teams can rely on a system that identifies the highest-risk threats, validates defenses in real-time, and adapts to emerging attack patterns.
Implications for Organizations and Security Teams
For enterprises, the acquisition of DeepSurface by AttackIQ represents a shift toward a more strategic, risk-based approach to cybersecurity. Instead of relying on reactive defenses, organizations can now leverage a system that continuously identifies, prioritizes, and validates security risks. This enhances their ability to anticipate attacks, reducing the likelihood of breaches before they happen.
Beyond direct security improvements, the acquisition also has implications for compliance, regulatory adherence, and incident response. Many industries require organizations to demonstrate due diligence in managing cyber risk. With a system that continuously evaluates security posture and validates defenses, companies can better align with regulatory standards and improve audit readiness. Additionally, having a clear picture of high-risk vulnerabilities and exposure paths can streamline incident response, helping teams respond more effectively when threats arise.
Looking Ahead: AttackIQ’s Future with DeepSurface
With DeepSurface now part of AttackIQ, the company is well-positioned to push the boundaries of automated security validation and exposure management. The combination of BAS with AEV opens the door to new innovations, particularly in automated attack path analysis, continuous exposure monitoring, and AI-driven risk prioritization.
AttackIQ aims to refine its CTEM strategy, integrate more security tools, and enhance automation, making proactive threat management more accessible for security teams. By making threat exposure management more scalable and actionable, AttackIQ aims to help organizations stay ahead of attackers—not just react to them.
