Every organization has public-facing network infrastructure. This infrastructure hosts a range of applications, including those that support employees, customers, and business partners. It may include gateway services that provide network connectivity such as VPNs, virtual desktop servers, or jump servers. This infrastructure also delivers critical IT and network services such as email, file servers, DNS, remote access, and communications like VoIP.

Public-facing infrastructure is a challenge to secure, as it is addressable by anyone on the Internet. As a consequence, it is vulnerable to a number of different threat vectors. For example, attackers can scan the infrastructure to inventory discoverable applications and services. If attackers find a vulnerability in the operating system, the appliance, or the software in the future, they could take advantage of the exploitable window before a patch is developed or installed.