Exposure management for state and local government cybersecurity

Exposure management for state and local government FAQ

What is exposure management in the context of state and local government?

Exposure management is a strategic approach to proactive security designed to reduce cyber risk by continuously identifying, contextualizing, prioritizing, and closing the cyber exposures that put public services at risk. In the context of state and local government cybersecurity, cyber exposures are toxic combinations of preventable risks, such as vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and identity weaknesses, that threat actors can exploit to create attack paths leading to essential services, such as 911 dispatch, water facilities, elections systems, or K-12 learning environments.

How is exposure management different from traditional vulnerability management for SLG agencies?

When comparing exposure management vs. vulnerability management, the key difference is scope and context. Vulnerability management tells you where security weaknesses exist across systems, applications, and networks. But vulnerabilities represent just one attack vector. Threat actors also exploit misconfigurations and identity weaknesses across your on-prem, cloud, AI, and OT systems to gain access to your environment, move laterally, and elevate their privileges. This is where exposure management comes in.

Exposure management looks at the full picture — vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and identity weaknesses — across your entire attack surface. It shows how an attacker could reach high-impact systems, such as public safety networks or citizen data environments. This context helps SLG teams prioritize what matters most for service continuity and community protection.

Why do state and local governments need exposure management now?

SLG organizations face rapid digital growth, severe staffing shortages, tight budgets, aging infrastructure, and rising ransomware attacks targeting public services. At the same time, agencies are adopting cloud tools, digital citizen services, IoT devices, and new AI workflows — all of which greatly expands their attack surface. Exposure management gives your state and local government agencies an attacker’s view of your environment and highlights the exact combinations of exposures that could lead to data breaches or critical service disruptions.

Moreover, exposure management helps you take a proactive stance against threats, rather than having to rely exclusively on reactive, threat detection and response technologies like EDR and SIEM. Exposure management identifies, prioritizes, and helps your state and local government remediate your most urgent vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and identity weaknesses before attackers can exploit them, whereas threat detection and response tools like EDR and SIEM only detect threats once they’ve landed on a managed endpoint or your network.

How does exposure management support SLG grants, mandates, and compliance?

Exposure management provides the continuous monitoring, centralized reporting, and measurable risk reduction required by programs like the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP), Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP), and state-level cybersecurity strategies. It simplifies compliance with frameworks such as NIST CSF, CIS Controls, and statewide cyber maturity models by giving agencies evidence-based dashboards and clear remediation guidance.

What outcomes can SLG agencies expect from implementing exposure management?

State and local governments can expect measurable reductions in cyber exposure, faster remediation timelines, improved audit readiness, and greater resilience of critical public services. Exposure management helps agencies protect constituent data, maintain operational continuity, and use limited budgets more effectively — while strengthening trust across the communities they serve.