Some of the largest security incidents often stem from some of the smallest errors.

How do companies find even tiny cracks in their digital armor? Kent Rounds has some simple but sound advice: know your network.

Attackers often have to only unearth a single hole in an company鈥檚 defenses in order to gain access to some of its most critically important data, said Rounds, the president of cybersecurity firm Tychon, a vendor that lets companies see and understand what鈥檚 happening on their networks.

鈥淎dversaries [can] understand and know the attack surface even better than the operators themselves,鈥� added Rounds, a cybersecurity veteran of more than 20 years, during an interview on the RSA Conference鈥檚 RSAC-TV in February.

Indeed, last year, during the Enigma Conference, the National Security Agency鈥檚 hacker-in-chief Rob Joyce similarly warned security engineers in the audience that some of their most sophisticated adversaries often have more insights into their networks than they do.

鈥淒on鈥檛 assume a crack is too small to be noticed or too small to be exploited,鈥� Joyce, the head of the agency鈥檚 Tailored Access Operations (TAO) group, told the crowd.

鈥淲e鈥檒l poke and we鈥檒l poke and we鈥檒l wait and wait and wait,鈥� he added, 鈥渂ecause we鈥檙e looking for that opportunity.鈥�

The best way to combat all manner of sophisticated and patient enemies, Rounds said, is giving network defenders, the people inside of an organization charged with keeping its data safe, 鈥渁 snapshot of the environment in real-time, versus something that鈥檚 days, weeks or months old.鈥�

While most organizations patch the most critical, publicly-proclaimed vulnerabilities, it鈥檚 often simpler issues like the configuration of software or small unnoticed holes that go unattended.

By giving operators 鈥斅爎eal people working on actual security problems 鈥� insight into their entire network, they鈥檒l be able to fix even small vulnerabilities before they are exploited by an infiltrator.

鈥淚t鈥檚 giving that operator the insight into what鈥檚 happening in my environment and being able to have actionable data to change,鈥� Rounds said. 鈥淏efore the adversary can take advantage of a crack in the armor.鈥�