The Telemetry Imperative: From Nice-to-Have to Necessity

For years, organizations treated network telemetry as an optional enhancement—useful, but not essential. Security teams focused on firewalls, endpoint detection, and vulnerability scanning, assuming these layers were enough. But as cyber threats evolve, that assumption is proving dangerously outdated.

Attackers don’t just target the perimeter anymore. They move inside networks, exploiting unknown assets, misconfigurations, and blind spots. Without network telemetry, organizations lack the real-time visibility needed to detect, respond, and adapt to these threats.

What was once considered a “nice-to-have” is now an operational necessity—not just for cybersecurity, but for resilience, compliance, and business intelligence. This is the Telemetry Imperative.

The blind spots that attackers exploit

Most organizations believe they have visibility because they monitor firewalls, email, and endpoints. But these tools primarily track north-south traffic—data moving in and out of the network.

The real problem lies in east-west traffic—the movement of data within the network between devices, applications, and cloud environments. This is where attackers operate undetected.

Consider ransomware attacks: Once inside the network, attackers don’t immediately detonate malware. They move laterally, escalate privileges, and identify high-value targets. By the time an attack is detected, it’s often too late.

The risks of operating without network telemetry:

• Unknown threats: If you can’t see lateral movement, attackers have free rein inside your network.
• Hidden vulnerabilities: You can’t protect what you can’t see—unknown assets remain unpatched and unsecured.
• Compliance gaps: Many regulations now require continuous asset tracking, not just point-in-time audits.
• Operational inefficiencies: Shadow IT, misconfigured devices, and network bottlenecks go unnoticed.
• Delayed incident response: Without continuous telemetry, investigation and containment take longer, increasing damage.

Security today isn’t just about preventing breaches—it’s about understanding your entire environment in real time.

Telemetry: The backbone of exposure management

At UncommonX, we emphasize exposure management as the future of cybersecurity. Traditional vulnerability management only tells part of the story—network telemetry fills the gaps by providing continuous insights into risk.

Exposure management relies on five key variables:

• Priority: What is the business impact of an asset?
• Vulnerability: Are known weaknesses being actively exploited?
• Profile: Is the asset behaving normally, or showing anomalies?
• Telemetry: Who or what is it communicating with? Is there suspicious activity?
• Controls: Are the right security measures in place to mitigate risk?

Without telemetry, security teams are working with incomplete information. Take asset discovery as an example. Many organizations assume they know what’s on their network—but in reality, an estimated 40% of IT assets are either unknown, unmanaged, or misconfigured.

This is why compliance audits and consultant-led assessments often reveal major gaps in visibility. But those assessments only provide a snapshot in time. Telemetry offers a continuous, real-time view of network activity, reducing risk and improving operational efficiency.

Breaking the cycle: Paying twice for half the visibility

One of the biggest inefficiencies in cybersecurity today is the siloed approach to network visibility. Organizations often:

• Pay for network monitoring (NetFlow, network taps) to track performance.
• Pay again for security tools (SIEM, EDR) to detect threats.
• Pay consultants for point-in-time asset assessments.

Yet, these tools don’t work together. Critical security insights get lost in the gaps.

Take financial institutions, for example. They often invest in separate tools for network monitoring and security monitoring, only to find that their fraud detection systems miss critical security indicators. Meanwhile, manufacturing companies rely on outdated asset inventories, leaving IoT and OT devices unprotected.

The smarter approach? An integrated exposure management solution that consolidates telemetry, vulnerability insights, and real-time risk intelligence into one.

From optional to essential: The Telemetry Imperative

Telemetry is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. Without it, security teams miss lateral threats, IT teams lack visibility into infrastructure health, and compliance teams struggle to meet regulatory requirements. Organizations that fail to adopt telemetry aren’t just increasing their cyber risk—they’re falling behind.

The shift is clear:

• Security teams need telemetry to detect threats before they spread.
• IT teams need it to maintain infrastructure health and prevent downtime.
• Compliance teams need it to provide continuous asset visibility and audit readiness.

Consider the growing role of cyber insurance: Many providers are now requiring real-time telemetry as part of their risk assessments. Without it, organizations may find themselves uninsurable—or paying significantly higher premiums.

In short, network telemetry is no longer optional. It’s the foundation for security, resilience, and operational intelligence.

Real-world results: What organizations gain with telemetry

Forward-thinking organizations that implement telemetry as part of their exposure management strategy report significant improvements:

• Faster threat detection: Organizations reduce dwell time (the time an attacker remains undetected) from months to hours.
• Reduced incident costs: Proactively detecting threats before they spread significantly lowers response costs.
• Improved IT efficiency: Network teams eliminate visibility gaps, reducing downtime and performance issues.
• Stronger compliance posture: Continuous telemetry enables real-time asset tracking, making audits smoother and more accurate.

At UncommonX, we provide the comprehensive exposure management solution organizations need to move from reactive security to proactive resilience. The question isn’t whether you can afford to implement network telemetry. The real question is: Can you afford not to? Ready to integrate telemetry into your exposure management strategy? Contact us today.