Attack Surface Management (ASM) tools are designed to help organizations identify and monitor all external-facing assets to reduce security risk. However, the article highlights a fundamental problem: ASM programs often generate large volumes of data and alerts without clear evidence that they reduce actual security incidents. Traditional ASM metrics focus on asset counts, changes, and alert volumes, which are easy to measure but do not directly correlate with risk reduction. This leads to alert fatigue, unresolved asset ownership, and lingering exposures. The article proposes shifting ASM ROI measurement from input metrics to outcome metrics that better reflect risk reduction. These include: (1) Mean Time to Asset Ownership — how quickly an organization identifies and assigns responsibility for assets, reducing the window of unmanaged exposure; (2) Reduction in Unauthenticated, State-Changing Endpoints — focusing on eliminating risky external endpoints that can be exploited without authentication; and (3) Time to Decommission After Ownership Loss — ensuring abandoned or deprecated assets are removed promptly to prevent lingering vulnerabilities. The article stresses that ASM effectiveness depends on visibility combined with accountability and timely remediation, not just discovery. It also suggests making asset visibility accessible across teams to accelerate resolution. This strategic approach helps demonstrate real progress in reducing attack surface risk and justifies ASM investments. The article is a thought leadership piece rather than a technical vulnerability or exploit report.

For European organizations, the impact of this issue lies in potentially inefficient security operations and suboptimal risk management. Organizations heavily investing in ASM tools may experience alert fatigue and operational overload without clear evidence of reduced incidents, leading to wasted resources and possible complacency. This can increase the risk of undetected or unresolved exposures, especially in complex environments with numerous assets and third-party dependencies. The lack of outcome-focused metrics may hinder effective communication with leadership and budget holders, reducing support for necessary security initiatives. In regulated sectors common in Europe, such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure, failure to demonstrate effective risk reduction could impact compliance with standards like GDPR, NIS Directive, and sector-specific cybersecurity requirements. Ultimately, this strategic gap could delay remediation of critical vulnerabilities and increase the likelihood of successful cyberattacks exploiting unmanaged assets.

European organizations should enhance their ASM programs by integrating outcome-oriented metrics that focus on risk reduction rather than just asset discovery. Specifically, they should: 1) Implement processes to rapidly assign ownership to discovered assets, reducing the time assets remain unmanaged. 2) Prioritize identification and remediation of unauthenticated, state-changing endpoints, as these represent high-risk attack vectors. 3) Establish clear workflows to promptly decommission assets that lose ownership or become obsolete, preventing lingering exposures. 4) Foster cross-team visibility by sharing ASM data broadly among security, engineering, and infrastructure teams to accelerate resolution without increasing alert fatigue. 5) Develop dashboards and reporting that highlight exposure duration, ownership gaps, and unresolved risks to better inform leadership and justify ASM investments. 6) Regularly review ASM program effectiveness by tracking how quickly risky assets are addressed and whether attack paths are shrinking over time. 7) Align ASM efforts with compliance requirements by documenting risk reduction outcomes and remediation timelines. This approach moves ASM from a discovery tool to a control that demonstrably reduces organizational risk.