I'm not sure the "journos" from Techradar are too familiar with how networks ... work.

IPv4 requires an inbound NAT these days to work at all globally, unless you actually have a machine with a globally routable IP. There will probably be a default deny firewall rule too. I do remember the days before NAT ...

IPv6 doesn't require NAT (but prefix translation is available and so is ULA) but again a default deny is likely in force.

You do actually have to try quite hard to expose something to the internets. I know this because I do a lot of it.

The entire article is just a load of buzz words and basically bollocks. Yes it is possible to expose a system on the internet but it is unlikely that you do it by accident. If I was Sead, I'd go easy on the AI generated cobblers and get a real job.