Last updated at Fri, 30 May 2025 18:53:13 GMT

Imagine hiring a professional security team to guard your home — only to discover they’re doing so by monitoring camera feeds from only the front of the house — securing the front door but blissfully unaware of the unlocked window in the back. That’s what many organizations face today when relying on Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services without full visibility across their digital environments.

Shadow IT, orphaned assets, internet-facing exposures, and unmanaged cloud services are all part of an expanding attack surface. And, according to Enterprise Strategy Group, 76% of organizations have experienced some type of cyberattack involving an unknown or unmanaged internet-facing asset(1) — the kind of risk that stems from gaps in visibility. The result? A critical mismatch between the Attack Surface (what adversaries can reach) and the Detection Surface (what MDR services are configured to see and respond to).

To maximize the effectiveness of security operations, MDR must continually evolve. Today at Rapid7, that means integrating Surface Command — not as a dashboard or tool to manage, but as a behind-the-scenes capability that strengthens the service our customers rely on.

Extending the detection surface

Surface Command enhances the MDR experience by combining two critical perspectives:

  1. CAASM (Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management) consolidates insights from across internal tooling — vulnerability management platforms, EDR, identity systems, IT service management, firewalls, and more.
  2. EASM (External Attack Surface Management) complements this by continuously scanning for exposed infrastructure: domains, APIs, IPs, ports, and services.

Together, they offer a complete picture of what’s actually in your environment — and what’s at risk — without requiring additional effort from security teams. For the Rapid7 SOC, this means less risk for blind spots and faster, more confident investigations. For customers, it means fewer RFIs and greater trust in the response process.

Bridging the visibility gap

Many organizations today rely on spreadsheets and manual processes to keep track of their infrastructure — and the consequences are significant. Incomplete inventories, inconsistent classifications, and missed configuration details all contribute to increased risk and slower response.

Surface Command addresses this with three key strengths:

  • Complete inventory: Using API-based integrations with common security and IT operations tools, Surface Command automatically discovers and classifies a broad set of internal and internet-facing assets — from cloud environments to endpoint platforms, firewall configurations, and vulnerability management tools. This removes the guesswork and closes visibility gaps.
  • Continuous insight: Visibility isn’t a one-time event. Surface Command continuously monitors for new assets and changes to existing ones, ensuring the customer and the SOC always have a current picture of what exists and how it’s exposed.
  • Automated efficiency: By eliminating the need for manual tracking and inventory upkeep, Surface Command frees security teams to focus on higher-value priorities. One customer shared that this capability helped eliminate nearly 100 hours of manual asset tracking per month — time they redirected toward strategic initiatives.

These operational advantages translate directly into security value: better data, faster detection and investigation, and a more resilient managed defense.

Enabling a smarter MDR experience

Visibility is a means to an end. By enabling Surface Command, the MDR SOC has invaluable insight into every corner of your security environment, bringing efficiencies and deep insights to your managed security program:

  • Earlier awareness during onboarding: Our SOC gets a complete picture of the customer environment right away, which means we can begin protecting it more effectively from day one.
  • More context during incidents: When a detection triggers on a previously unknown asset, the SOC isn’t starting from zero. Surface Command provides the information needed to understand what a system is, who owns it, and how it’s configured.
  • Stronger foundation for threat hunting: For teams that want to lean into proactive defense, Surface Command gives the context needed to ask better questions — and find better answers.

It also supports compliance initiatives by clarifying what’s in scope and how it’s protected. For organizations pursuing NIST, CIS, or ISO alignment, that transparency can be a game changer.

Making Attack Surface Management more accessible than ever

Surface Command brings the power of Attack Surface Management — long seen as a capability reserved for mature, well-resourced security teams — directly into the hands of Rapid7 MDR customers. Our goal is to ensure that your internal security team and our SOC are given the most complete context possible from day one.

There are a number of ways Surface Command is available to MDR customers today. Contact your Rapid7 account team or click here to initiate a no commitment trial today.

(1) Enterprise Strategy Group