Security leaders are facing an unusual set of circumstances. The drumbeat for better security prioritization has been rising for years in boardrooms around the world. The desire is there, but the processes of the past aren’t meeting the needs of the new moment we find ourselves in. 

That gap is not a technology problem. It's an operating model problem.

At the opening keynote of Rapid7’s 2026 Global Cybersecurity Summit, Craig Adams, Chief Product Officer, Rapid7, Brian Castagna, CSO, Rapid7 and IDC’s Research VP, Craig Robinson framed a simple idea: cyber defense needs to start earlier.

For more on this, download our new ebook, Preemptive Security: From Resilience to Action.

Complexity is outpacing control

Security environments have never been more connected or more difficult to manage. Cloud adoption, SaaS sprawl, third-party dependencies, and identity growth have expanded the attack surface in ways most programs were not designed to handle. Many teams have responded by adding more tools and more telemetry. This has resulted in more fragmentation, more dashboards, and more opportunities for important information to slip through the cracks. 

Teams are spending more time stitching context together than they are effectively reducing risk. This shows up in daily operations with analysts moving between multiple systems to validate alerts, and leaders lacking the clear picture to explain risk to the business. In a time when exposure management and detection & response can live on one platform, that level of fragmentation makes no sense.

Reactive security creates operational drag

The traditional model still dominates most security programs. It goes like this (stop us if you’ve heard this before): 1) Detect an alert. 2) Investigate. 3) Contain. 4) Recover. 5) Repeat, forever. 

Sounds simple, right? And it worked great when environments were simpler and attackers moved slower. That is no longer the case.

Today, initial access often happens quietly through identity abuse or misconfiguration. Attack paths form before an alert even fires. By the time a signal reaches the security team, attackers may already be moving laterally or accessing sensitive systems. This creates a cycle of constant response without consistent risk reduction. Teams get better at handling incidents but struggle to remove the conditions that enable them.

Security operations centers can receive thousands of alerts per day, many of which are low value or false positives. This leaves analysts spending hours triaging signals instead of focusing on the exposures most likely to lead to impact.

More alerts do not make you safer. They create drag. Better context creates better outcomes. 

The issue is prioritization, not visibility

Most organizations are not lacking data. They are lacking the clarity needed to understand the data they have and contextualize it as it relates to their business. Telemetry alone does not answer the question that matters most: what should we do first?

Attackers look for the most effective path into an environment, often combining smaller weaknesses across assets, identities, and systems until they create meaningful access. Security teams need a similarly connected view, one that helps them understand which exposures are exploitable, which assets are most critical, and how those risks relate across the environment. When teams can see that full picture, they can focus remediation on the issues most likely to be used in a real attack, making risk reduction more targeted, efficient, and defensible. 

The result is effort without impact.

Why security needs to start earlier

The summit’s keynote message is direct: meaningful action must move earlier in the lifecycle.

Preemptive Security introduces an operating model designed for that shift. It connects four core elements:

• Exposure management to identify and prioritize risk

• Managed detection and response (MDR) to monitor and act

• Artificial intelligence to reduce noise and accelerate analysis

• Human expertise to validate and decide

Together, these capabilities create a system that acts before risk becomes impact. Instead of waiting for alerts, teams identify likely breach paths. Instead of reacting to incidents, they reduce exposure ahead of time. Instead of managing disconnected tools, they operate with shared context and clear priorities. Detection and response becomes one leg of the stool with exposure management taking the lead in reducing risk before it becomes an emergency. 

What changes for security leaders

For CISOs and security leaders, this shift means designing programs around likely attack paths, not isolated findings. It means prioritizing investments based on risk reduction, not tool coverage and enabling teams to act decisively without increasing headcount or complexity.

It also changes how success is measured. The goal is fewer surprises, faster containment and reduced exposure before exploitation. It means starting earlier, to increase the likelihood of success. These are outcomes the business understands.

A new starting point for security

Ultimately, the environment has changed faster than the operating model. So the operating model needs to change. Luckily, there’s a proven path forward that can prevent the attacks from bad actors already moving in earlier, using technology to scale their operations, and exploiting small weaknesses to get a foothold. 

Preemptive Security provides the framework to close that gap. It helps teams reduce noise, focus on what matters, and act with confidence before disruption occurs. Security does not start with an alert. It starts with understanding risk early enough to do something about it.

Watch the keynote on demand or download the eBook, Preemptive Security: From Resilience to Action, to explore the model in more detail.