I worked at many places, such as Microsoft and Amazon. I was amazed by how stable the security space was. It allowed for focused, clean work. When I first started my business in 2020, I had a hard time securing networks at the same level that they do.
After some analysis, I learned one important scenario. Corporate networks usually limit the number of applications one can install.
This reduces the attack surface significantly. Applications supported by corporate operations have experts assigned to them. Those experts spend time collecting issues, and they either fix them or keep runbooks ready for when a response is needed. Large user bases increase the amount of data available to cover all scenarios.
Limiting the amount of trial software also helps reduce issues. Experience shows that many hacker groups try to exploit this software first. The smaller the customer base, the easier it is to find issues. Often, these tools are heavy on telemetry and collect early user information.
You might wonder how much help corporate networks provide. My experience is that the core of that stability comes from limiting software use to a few well-established vendors. Less frequent updates are part of that stability. Each new version is well thought through, then shipped monthly or quarterly.
Always-on, always-connected systems can cause trouble. The simplest way to protect work is to make frequent backups and to test that those backups can bring systems back.
Many people suggest red teaming. This option can sometimes be problematic. If a corporation opts out of red teaming, any issue can immediately point to hacking activity. Staff will not burn out from those issues, and they will report them immediately and more often. It is better to scope testing to locked-down domains.
The statistics clearly show that it is easier to solve issues when others use the same environment in corporate settings. Limiting personalization is the first key to stability. Often, a good fallback is to return to the corporate images used by others.