The number of connected devices is growing at a rate that few could have imagined a decade ago—expected to surpass 32.1 billion globally by 2030. From smart thermostats in homes to complex IoT deployments in manufacturing, nearly every aspect of life and business now depends on interconnected systems. This explosion of connectivity, while enabling innovation and efficiency, has dramatically expanded the digital attack surface, and with it, the risks.
Today, security teams are tasked with safeguarding environments that span thousands of IP addresses and include countless shadow IT assets and third-party systems. Traditional vulnerability assessment methods simply weren’t built for this scale. Legacy scanners tend to prioritize ease and speed, often focusing on fewer than 80 network ports. While that may have been sufficient in simpler environments, it’s an increasingly dangerous gamble in today’s distributed and dynamic networks.
Recent analyses show that this outdated approach only covers about 40% of the ports organizations actually use. The remaining 60%, which go unscanned, can harbor critical services and potential vulnerabilities that attackers are more than willing to exploit. The result is an incomplete picture of network exposure, and it leaves organizations flying blind.
To effectively reduce risk, we need a shift in how we think about vulnerability detection. That shift starts with expanding and contextualizing the attack surface scanning process.
The Case for Broader Attack Surface Coverage
One of the most immediate improvements organizations can make is to expand their attack surface scanning coverage to include the top 1,000 ports. These ports are responsible for hosting over 95% of the world’s common network services and protocols, including HTTP, SSH, FTP, SMTP, and many others. By broadening the aperture of visibility in this way, security teams can catch a far greater share of misconfigurations, unpatched software, and rogue services before attackers do.
This doesn’t mean scanning everything, everywhere, all the time, especially given the performance and bandwidth constraints that some networks face. But it does mean embracing smarter prioritization. The goal is to strike the right balance between thoroughness and efficiency, leveraging real-world threat intelligence to focus resources where they matter most.
Understanding the Context of Exposure
Equally important is moving beyond raw discovery to understand the context of each exposed asset or service. Not all vulnerabilities are created equal. A misconfigured FTP server in a segmented lab environment doesn’t carry the same risk as one exposed directly to the public internet with administrator credentials. Without this context, security teams can drown in noise and miss the real threats.
That’s where context-aware defense comes into play. This approach pairs attack surface scanning with insights about asset ownership, sensitivity, exposure level, and network topology. It transforms what would otherwise be a flat list of vulnerabilities into an actionable map of true risk. In practice, this means that a seemingly minor vulnerability can be elevated to a top priority if it resides on a critical asset or is easily accessible from the outside.
Context-aware defense doesn’t replace other cybersecurity layers. In fact, it strengthens them. This type of defense provides the visibility and prioritization necessary to guide patching efforts, inform segmentation strategies, and even support incident response. When a breach attempt occurs, understanding the context of the targeted asset can accelerate containment and remediation.
Rethinking External Attack Surface Management
As organizations expand their use of cloud infrastructure, remote workforces, and third-party integrations, much of the attack surface now lives beyond the firewall. Internet-facing assets—some known, others long forgotten—can be deployed and exposed in a matter of minutes. These assets don’t just increase surface area; they redefine the perimeter altogether.
Managing this shifting landscape requires more than asset discovery. It calls for a continuous, adaptive strategy that combines frequent scanning with real-time analysis. Instead of treating external exposure as a static inventory problem, the modern approach treats it as a fluid, high-frequency data stream—one where changes are tracked in near real time and automatically correlated with risk indicators.
Rather than reacting to every alert equally, smarter attack surface management prioritizes based on context: Which assets are active? Which are accessible from the public internet? Which tie into critical systems? Which ones have known vulnerabilities or fall outside existing controls? This kind of intelligent filtering enables teams to zero in on what matters, before attackers do.
Navigating IoT and Edge Complexity
Nowhere is the complexity of interconnectivity more pronounced than in environments rich with IoT and edge devices. These assets are often rolled out rapidly and at scale, with minimal security oversight. They run on diverse operating systems, may lack standard patching mechanisms, and are frequently deployed in remote or unmanaged environments.
Effective protection starts with simply knowing what’s there. Attack surface scanning plays a crucial role in discovering these devices and cataloging the services they expose. From there, context becomes critical again—understanding which devices are connected to high-value systems, or which ones have known vulnerabilities but no path to remediation, can inform compensating controls.
IoT isn’t going away. Neither is the cloud. Organizations need tools and strategies that can keep up; not just by scanning wider, but by thinking deeper.
Defending in Real Time, Not Hindsight
Security is ultimately about visibility. You can’t defend what you don’t know exists. As the digital perimeter continues to dissolve, organizations must take a more proactive and context-driven approach to understanding their exposure. That starts with expanding scanning coverage beyond outdated defaults and embracing the nuanced, risk-based prioritization that context-aware defense offers.
We are operating in a world of persistent threats and evolving vulnerabilities. Attackers don’t limit themselves to the top 80 ports, and neither should we. To stay ahead, we must combine comprehensive visibility with real-world and real-time context. Only then can we close the gaps that legacy tools leave behind and truly defend our networks with confidence.
About the Author
Jeff Collins, CEO of WanAware, has over 25 years of experience driving profitable growth by transforming brands, companies, and cultures. He is passionate about leading disruption through insight-driven strategies that activate brands and companies, attract customers, inspire stakeholders, and create community. In 2020, Jeff began developing WanAware after recognizing the need for effective IT Observability solutions due to the limitations of outdated legacy tools and antiquated models. He also holds leadership positions at 21Packets (Chairman) and Lightstream (Chief Strategy Officer). Jeff serves on the boards of multiple technology companies, contributing his expertise in cybersecurity, AI, networking, and data transformation. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmcollins/ and learn more about WanAware on our company website https://www.wanaware.com/.
