Buy vs Build: Leveraging CCM for cyber risk management

The cyber risk landscape has reached a critical inflection point.
As CISOs grapple with expanding attack surfaces, mounting regulatory pressures, and increasingly sophisticated threats, traditional approaches to cyber risk management are falling short.

Liana Vickery
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Last updated: 16th September 2025

According to the latest Gartner research, 72% of security leaders report that cyber risks have risen significantly in the past year. At the time, Panaseer’s 2025 Security Leaders Peer Report uncovered that almost two thirds (61%) of organisations have suffered a breach in the past year because of a control failure, with 70% of security leaders declaring there is too much noise to have a clear picture of cyber risk.

This mounting pressure has created a perfect storm: boards are demanding more visibility into cyber risk, regulations are tightening, and security teams are burning out trying to manually manage an ever-growing threat landscape.

Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM) is increasingly seen as the solution – designed specifically to transform reactive cyber risk management into a proactive, automated, and business-aligned capability.

But as organizations evaluate their CCM options, a fundamental question emerges: should you engineer your own cyber risk management solution using data lakes and analytics tools, or invest in a purpose-built CCM platform?

The answer depends on your organization's maturity, resources, and strategic objectives.

The cyber risk management challenge

Modern cyber risk management faces unprecedented challenges that traditional point-in-time assessments simply cannot address:

Exponential attack surface growth: The rapid adoption of cloud services, IoT devices, and remote work has created attack surfaces that grow faster than security teams can monitor them. What was once a manageable perimeter has become a complex, ever-changing ecosystem of interconnected assets.
Regulatory complexity: From DORA in the EU to SEC cybersecurity disclosure requirements, organizations must navigate an increasingly complex web of overlapping regulations. Each framework demands continuous evidence of control effectiveness - not just annual verifications.
Resource constraints: Security teams are stretched thin, with many organizations reporting that 30% or more of their time is spent on reporting rather than actual risk reduction. This creates a dangerous cycle where teams are at risk of spending more time documenting problems than fixing them.
Stakeholder expectations: Boards and executives are demanding real-time visibility into cyber risk, with 85% of security leaders reporting they're expected to communicate with more internal stakeholders than ever before.

These challenges are precisely why Gartner has recognized CCM as a critical capability in its both the 2024 and 2025 Hype Cycle for Cyber Risk Management - noting that organizations must move toward "near-real-time monitoring systems, automation for resource-heavy processes, and impact-focused risk assessment methods”.

Why CCM is essential

Continuous Controls Monitoring addresses the fundamental limitations of traditional cyber risk management by providing:

Real-time risk visibility: Rather than waiting for quarterly assessments, CCM provides continuous insight into your organization's risk posture across all domains - from vulnerability management to identity and access controls
Automated risk prioritization: Advanced CCM platforms use AI and machine learning to automatically prioritize risks based on business impact, threat intelligence, and exploitability - ensuring your team focuses on what matters most
Stakeholder-ready reporting: Leading CCM platforms include executive dashboard suites, translating complex technical data into business-ready insights, enabling confident communication with boards, executives, and regulators.
Control remediation acceleration: By automating the identification and prioritization of control gaps, CCM enables security teams to spend less time on manual analysis and more time on actual risk reduction.

The strategic decision: build vs buy for cyber risk management

When implementing CCM for cyber risk management, organizations face a critical choice between building their own solution or investing in a purpose-built platform.

Each approach offers distinct advantages and limitations.

You should consider a purpose-built CCM platform if:

Your board needs regular, data-driven reporting on cyber risk
You're managing multiple compliance frameworks simultaneously
You want to reduce time-to-insight for risk identification and remediation
You need confidence in the data that supports your risk communications
You're looking to improve team productivity and reduce burnout

You may want to build your own solution if:

Your risk management needs are narrow and well-defined
You have significant internal data engineering and analytics capabilities
You need maximum flexibility and customization
Budget constraints make platform investment challenging

Platform vs solution feature comparison

To help evaluate your options, here's how a purpose-built CCM platform compares to building your own cyber risk management solution:

Capability	CCM platform	Internal approach
Near-real-time control visibility	Native integrations with deduplication and data normalization	Requires data pipeline and custom scripts
Risk prioritization	Automated control context and business impact	Custom scoring logic needed
Framework mapping	Built-in mappings to popular frameworks, including NIST CSF, plus ability to load custom frameworks	Manual control mapping
Stakeholder engagement	Executive- and stakeholder-ready dashboards	Dependent on internal BI and analytics maturity
Compound risk insights	Surfaces hidden attack paths across security domains	Often missed or manually uncovered with intensive analysis

The business case for CCM

The investment in CCM for cyber risk management delivers measurable returns across multiple dimensions:

The hybrid approach: enhancing existing investments

Many organizations have already invested in data lakes, SIEM platforms, and business intelligence tools to begin to monitor controls performance in some capacity (although often lack near-real-time visibility and advanced automation).

Rather than replacing these investments, CCM platforms, including Panaseer, can layer on top of existing infrastructure, providing:

Enhanced analytics specifically designed for cyber risk management
Pre-built integrations with common security tools and data sources
Automated framework mapping and compliance reporting
Executive-ready dashboards and reporting capabilities

This hybrid approach allows organizations to leverage their existing data investments alongside advanced analytics and reporting functionality needed for effective cyber risk management.

Making the right choice for your organization

The decision between building and buying a CCM solution for cyber risk management ultimately depends on your organization's specific needs, resources, and strategic objectives. However, one thing is clear: manual, reactive approaches to cyber risk management are no longer sustainable in today's threat environment.

Whether you choose to build or buy, the key is to implement a solution that provides:

Real-time visibility into your risk posture
Automated prioritization based on business impact
Stakeholder-ready reporting and communication
Continuous monitoring and alerting capabilities
Integration with your existing security and IT infrastructure

As cyber threats continue to evolve and regulatory requirements intensify, organizations that invest in mature, automated cyber risk management capabilities will be better positioned to protect their business, satisfy stakeholders, and maintain competitive advantage.

The question isn't whether to implement CCM for cyber risk management - it's how quickly you can get started and which approach will deliver the greatest value for your organization.