Most CTEM programs scan infrastructure, APIs, and cloud resources. None of them watch what executes inside your visitors' browsers. That gap is where active payment fraud, supply chain compromise, and data exfiltration happen now. cside closes it.
Quick answer: Continuous Threat Exposure Management is a Gartner-defined security framework for continuously identifying, prioritizing, validating, and remediating exposures across an organization's full attack surface. The browser layer is the most widely unmonitored scope in most CTEM programs.
CTEM was coined by Gartner in 2022 as a response to the limits of point-in-time vulnerability management. Rather than finding and patching in periodic cycles, CTEM creates a continuous loop across five stages: scoping, discovery, prioritization, validation, and mobilization.
The browser layer is where that goal breaks down for most organizations. A typical enterprise page loads 48 or more third-party scripts from analytics platforms, tag managers, advertising networks, and payment processors.
Those scripts update continuously, carry supply chain risk from their own dependencies, and execute with access to everything the user types, sees, and submits. Yet they fall outside the scope of most CAASM tools, SIEMs, WAFs, and pen testing programs.
Organizations implementing CTEM demonstrate 50% better attack surface visibility than those without it, according to a 2026 market study of 128 enterprise security decision-makers. That advantage disappears at the browser edge if scripts are not in scope.
Quick answer: Third-party scripts execute client-side, update without triggering server-side alerts, and carry fourth-party dependencies that never appear in your asset inventory. A script authorized today may behave differently tomorrow, and your SIEM will show nothing.
Tag managers, analytics vendors, and ad networks push script updates continuously. A single approved script can include nested third-party calls two or three layers deep.
The 2025 Web Almanac found that the median inclusion chain for third-party scripts runs three levels deep. Your CTEM inventory lists the vendor. It does not capture what that vendor loaded at runtime.
Magecart-style attacks inject skimming code through compromised CDNs, tag managers, and third-party widgets. The payload runs entirely in the browser. Your server logs are clean. Your WAF sees nothing.
Magecart attacks surged 103% in six months during 2024-2025, with 10,500 active hacks in 2025 compromising over 23 million transactions.
PCI DSS requirements 6.4.3 and 11.6.1 became mandatory on 31 March 2025. They require an authorized script inventory on payment pages and a change and tamper detection mechanism for payment page content and HTTP headers.
These requirements cannot be met with server-side tools alone. ISACA's 2025 analysis confirmed that web client runtime risk requires a distinct control layer.
A Content Security Policy lists sources you trust. It does not tell you what those trusted sources are doing, what data they access, or whether a vendor has been compromised since you approved them.
For CTEM validation, CSP coverage against a declared policy is insufficient. You need behavioral confirmation at runtime.
Quick answer: cside provides continuous script discovery, behavioral monitoring, risk scoring, compliance queue management, and API delivery to your SIEM or SOAR. It maps directly to every CTEM phase at the browser layer, running 24/7 without manual re-scans.
cside identifies which web properties load scripts with access to sensitive data. Checkout pages, login flows, and form surfaces are automatically flagged as in scope.
Every script loaded on every page is enumerated continuously. cside tracks origins, versions, behavioral fingerprints, and data flows for each script.
The cside exposure score benchmarks browser risk on a 0-100 scale. Alerts surface actionable deviations and the PCI DSS review queue focuses teams on the highest-risk scripts first.
cside confirms that authorized scripts behave within expected runtime parameters. Behavioral diffs flag when a known script changes what it accesses or where it sends data.
Webhook and REST API delivery pipe signals into your SIEM, SOAR, or ticketing platform. Scripts can be blocked or quarantined directly from the dashboard.
Production snapshot, *.cside.com, 29 April 2026. The continuous loop keeps the exposure score and PCI DSS posture current between audit cycles.
Quick answer: Every cside signal is available via API and real-time webhook, ready to ingest into your existing CTEM toolchain. You are not locked into the dashboard.
Quick answer: cside does not replace CAASM, pen testing, or your WAF. It fills the specific gap those tools leave at the browser layer: the runtime, client-side execution environment that server-side tools structurally cannot reach.
| Compared to | The gap cside fills |
|---|---|
| CAASM / ASM platforms | CAASM inventories infrastructure assets. cside inventories script execution inside visitors' browsers and feeds those signals into your ASM. |
| Breach and attack simulation | BAS tests are point-in-time. Scripts change continuously between tests. cside runs between engagements. |
| WAF | A WAF inspects server-to-client traffic. It cannot inspect client-side execution after delivery. |
| Content Security Policy | CSP blocks listed sources. It does not validate what authorized sources do. cside validates runtime behavior. |
| Pen testing | Pen testing provides a snapshot. cside provides the continuous observation layer that makes snapshots actionable. |
Quick answer: Any industry that processes sensitive user data through a browser is exposed. eCommerce, FinTech, travel, and SaaS platforms carry the highest concentration of third-party scripts on high-risk pages.
Checkout pages and payment forms are the primary Magecart target. cside monitors them continuously and maps directly to PCI DSS 6.4.3 script authorization.
Learn moreBanks and payment platforms use cside to close the browser-layer gap in exposure management with PCI DSS compliance, tamper detection, and API delivery.
Learn moreHigh session volumes, complex tag stacks, and third-party booking integrations create significant script exposure without adding latency or user friction.
Learn moreSaaS products handling user data in the browser use cside to extend security posture and demonstrate continuous monitoring to procurement and audit teams.
Learn moreQuick answer: PCI DSS 4.0.1 requirements 6.4.3 and 11.6.1 have been mandatory since 31 March 2025. Gartner predicts that 60% of enterprises will have adopted CTEM as their primary security framework by 2026. These forces converge at the browser layer.
Security leaders are already feeling the pressure. 91% of CISOs report an increase in third-party incidents, and average breach costs have climbed to $4.44M.
At the same time, only 16% of organizations have operationalized CTEM, meaning 84% remain exposed to the visibility gap the framework is designed to close.
The browser layer is where that gap is most acute. It is the attack surface that has expanded fastest, carries the most third-party risk, and has lagged furthest behind in operational visibility.
Bringing scripts into scope for CTEM means shifting from "what assets do we have" to "what are those assets actually doing". cside makes that observation continuous, compliance-aligned, and integration-ready.
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FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Continuous Threat Exposure Management is a Gartner-defined framework for continuously identifying, prioritizing, validating, and remediating exposures across an organization's full attack surface. The browser layer needs to be in scope because third-party scripts executing in visitors' browsers represent a large and widely unmonitored exposure vector.
cside delivers all signals via REST API and real-time webhooks. Script inventory, behavioral alerts, the exposure score, and the PCI DSS review queue can be piped directly into your SIEM, SOAR, or CTEM platform.
The cside exposure score is a 0-100 composite risk rating for your browser-layer security posture. Higher is better. It combines infrastructure signals, script behavior signals, script origin signals, active alerts, pending PCI DSS reviews, and CSP violations.
PCI DSS 4.0.1 requires an authorized inventory of all scripts on payment pages with documented justification, and change and tamper detection for HTTP headers and payment page content. cside automates both by inventorying scripts, flagging unauthorized additions, and alerting on behavioral changes.
No. cside operates via an asynchronous script tag that sits outside the critical rendering path. Collection happens in the background with no measurable impact on Core Web Vitals, page load time, or user experience.
Free plan includes 1,000 API calls per month with basic script signals. Full CTEM-grade coverage with continuous monitoring, exposure scoring, and PCI DSS review queue starts at $99/month for 100K pageviews.