5 Billion and Counting: How Phosphorus is Illuminating the Dark Corners of Enterprise Networks

Today marks a significant milestone in our mission to secure the Internet of Things: Phosphorus Cybersecurity has successfully scanned more than 5 billion customer IP addresses, bringing countless unknown devices out of the shadows and into the light of proper cybersecurity management.

From Unknown to Secured: The Hidden Device Crisis

Every day, organizations worldwide operate with a dangerous blind spot—devices lurking on their networks that they don’t know exist, can’t manage, and certainly can’t secure. These “shadow IoT” devices represent one of the fastest-growing attack surfaces in modern cybersecurity, yet most companies remain completely unaware of their existence.

That’s where Phosphorus comes in.

The Numbers Tell the Story

Our 5 billion customer IP address milestone isn’t just about scale—it’s about impact. By illuminating these previously hidden devices, we’ve enabled our customers to:

• Deploy hundreds of thousands of firmware updates to patch critical vulnerabilities
• Rotate tens of thousands of passwords that were using default or weak credentials
• Identify and remediate countless security gaps before attackers can exploit them

Now, customers finally get an accurate and specific inventory of what’s on their network. 

The Customer Response: Baffled, Shocked, and Relieved

The reaction from our customers tells the real story of why this work matters:

Baffled by how quickly and easily we can inventory and assess devices they didn’t even know existed on their networks.

Shocked to discover these devices were running on expired certificates, self-signed certificates, or dangerously outdated firmware versions.

Relieved that we found these vulnerabilities before the bad actors did.

Our Formula: Safety First, Precision, Completeness, Speed, & Ease

What sets Phosphorus apart isn’t just our ability to find hidden devices—it’s how we do it:

• Safety First: No reckless scanning. We don’t overwhelm your devices with a flood of network traffic; we perform active discovery using your device’s native protocols to ensure there’s no operational impact to your mission-critical or even life-critical devices
• Precision: We don’t just scan; we accurately identify and categorize every device type, model, and vulnerability
• Completeness: Our comprehensive approach ensures nothing stays hidden in the shadows
• Speed: What used to take months now happens in minutes (seriously)
• Ease: We don’t require hardware or span ports, and we don’t hog bandwidth

One customer recently told us, “Phosphorus stands out from the crowd because of the non-disruptive nature of asset IoT and OT discovery and the quick discovery time.”

The Path Forward

As we celebrate scanning our 5 billionth customer IP address, we’re not slowing down. Every day, new devices go online, new vulnerabilities emerge, and new opportunities arise to help organizations reduce their attack surface.

The IoT landscape continues to expand exponentially, but so does our commitment to bringing clarity and security to the chaos. Our customers can focus on growing their business while we ensure their expanding device ecosystem doesn’t become their Achilles’ heel.

Ready to Illuminate Your Network’s Dark Corners?

If you’re wondering what unknown devices might be lurking on your network, you’re not alone. Most organizations are operating with significant blind spots that put them at risk every single day.

Don’t wait for attackers to find your hidden devices first.
Contact Phosphorus today to discover how we can help you identify, assess, and secure the devices you didn’t know you had. Because in cybersecurity, what you don’t know can absolutely hurt you.