Frequently asked questions
Straight answers about Element Security, external attack surface management (EASM), and continuous threat exposure management (CTEM).
Element Security is an external attack surface security platform. It continuously discovers your internet-facing assets, maps the technologies running on them, safely tests which exposures attackers can actually exploit, and prioritizes proven risks with proof-of-concept evidence and remediation guidance.
External attack surface management is the continuous discovery and monitoring of everything an organization exposes to the internet: domains and subdomains, cloud endpoints, web applications, exposed services, DNS records, certificates, and third-party infrastructure.
Most EASM tools stop at discovery and rank findings by generic severity scores. Element goes further and actively tests each exposure to confirm whether it is truly exploitable.
CTEM is a framework introduced by Gartner in 2022 for continuously reducing exposure instead of reacting to vulnerabilities one at a time. It runs in five stages: scoping, discovery, prioritization, validation, and mobilization.
Element runs the full CTEM cycle for your external attack surface, including validation, where exposures are proven exploitable through active testing.
Vulnerability scanners flag potential issues based on software versions and generic severity scores, which produces long lists of theoretical findings. Only a small share of published vulnerabilities are ever exploited in the wild, which is why CISA tracks them separately in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
Element safely attempts real exploitation, chains weaknesses into realistic attack paths, and adjusts severity based on validated impact, so your team fixes proven risk first.
Element’s proprietary exploit engine runs controlled payloads that safely test whether weaknesses can actually be exploited and chained into realistic attack paths. Every validated finding includes proof-of-concept evidence, so your team can see exactly what was proven and why it matters.
No. Element works from the outside in, the same way an attacker does. To start a proof of value, you only share your primary domain: no agents, no installs, and no internal access.
Active exploitation attempts generate replicable attack chains within the first hour of deployment, and proof-of-value reports usually arrive within the hour. After that, Element keeps re-testing as your assets, technologies, and exposures change.
Findings are delivered as a prioritized work plan with remediation guidance, proof of concept, and compliance-ready outputs. They can be routed directly into your existing ticketing and workflow tools.
Element was founded by offensive-security practitioners. CEO and co-founder Daniel Lublin is an ethical hacker who previously founded and led the Red Team at Check Point, and COO and co-founder Omer Cohen is a Unit 8200 alumnus. The team publishes original vulnerability research, such as remote code execution in Check Point Security Gateways.
