The Importance of Asset Discovery

What is asset discovery?

Asset discovery is the process of identifying and cataloging all digital assets within an organization's IT environment, including hardware, software, network devices, and data. It involves scanning the network and using specialized tools to identify and document assets accurately. Asset discovery capabilities are a necessary capability of a modern asset inventory solution.

This is important because not every asset inventory solution includes asset discovery, much less automated asset discovery. Instead of asset discovery, legacy asset inventory solutions rely on compiling lists of existing assets that you already know about. They pull data from your CMDB, cloud management platforms, and patch management systems, along with spreadsheets from purchasing or other data sources. What they do well is show you an aggregate list of everything you already know about. What they don’t do well is show you what you don’t know about. 

When evaluating an asset inventory solution it is important to make sure that it uses modern asset discovery techniques. In order to try and find unknown assets, legacy asset discovery methods often rely on conducting audits and filling out long, manual questionnaires. The process sucks up time that could be better spent on protecting your environment and responding to threats. 

Having an asset inventory tool that includes automated asset discovery is important because it provides you with comprehensive visibility into your IT environment so that you understand the full scope and scale of your digital assets. You can discover assets in your environment that you didn’t know existed as well as identify assets that you thought you had but don’t exist anymore and weren’t removed from the database when it was decommissioned. 

Overall, asset discovery is a critical component of effective asset management, cybersecurity, risk management, compliance, and resource optimization efforts in organizations of all sizes and industries.

Why is asset discovery important?

Inventory accuracy 

Many IT and cybersecurity initiatives — such as cyber resilience, incident response, and digital transformation — rely on having an up-to-date inventory of all assets within the organization. Asset discovery tools uncover assets that might not be included in the existing inventory, such as unauthorized devices, shadow IT resources, or assets that may not be actively managed or documented. It maintains inventory accuracy by automatically updating the asset database with newly discovered devices and removing outdated or decommissioned assets, preventing gaps or inaccuracies in the inventory that could arise from manual entry errors, oversights, or changes in the IT environment.

Continuous visibility

Asset discovery tools continuously monitor your organization’s network, checking for new assets or changes to existing assets, and updating the asset inventory automatically. This ensures that your inventory reflects the current state of your IT landscape and reduces the risk of relying on outdated or incomplete asset information for cybersecurity risk management.

Improved risk management 

Asset discovery plays a crucial role in risk management by providing insights into the security posture of assets and identifying potential security risks associated with unmanaged or unauthorized assets. This allows you to assess the asset's risk profiles and use that information to prioritize asset management efforts and implement appropriate security controls based on the detected assets' criticality and risk profiles.

Simplified compliance

Many regulatory standards and compliance frameworks (such as NIST, MITRE, DORA, FFIEC, NYDFS, and others) mandate accurate asset management practices. Asset discovery supports your compliance efforts by ensuring that all assets subject to regulatory requirements are properly identified, documented, and managed. This helps you demonstrate compliance with regulations and standards that mandate accurate asset tracking and management practices.

Improved incident response

In the event of a security incident, asset management plays a critical role in incident response and forensic investigations. Asset discovery provides security teams with visibility into the network and an understanding of how assets are interconnected. This accurate and comprehensive view of the affected assets facilitates timely response during an attack and streamlines post-attack investigation efforts. 

Improved resource allocation

Asset discovery automates the process of identifying and classifying new assets, reducing the manual effort required to maintain an accurate inventory. This frees up resources that would otherwise be spent on manual asset discovery, allowing your security team to focus on more strategic cybersecurity initiatives. Improved asset management also enables you to allocate cybersecurity resources effectively by focusing security efforts on assets that pose the highest risk.

Improved vulnerability management 

Asset management practices, including vulnerability management and patch management, require accurate asset information in order to prioritize and address security vulnerabilities effectively. Asset discovery ensures that all assets are accounted for, enabling you to maintain security hygiene by promptly identifying and remediating vulnerabilities on assets that pose the highest risk.

Conclusion

Asset discovery is a fundamental capability in a modern asset management solution. It ensures inventory accuracy by uncovering assets that may not be included in existing records and providing continuous visibility into the organization's network, thereby reducing the risk of relying on outdated or incomplete asset information. Moreover, asset discovery supports improved risk management by identifying potential security risks associated with unmanaged or unauthorized assets, simplifies compliance efforts by ensuring regulatory requirements are met, and enhances incident response capabilities by facilitating timely response. Ultimately, asset discovery enables you to focus on strategic cybersecurity initiatives to protect your highest-risk assets.

Redjack Builds Resilience

The Redjack cyber resilience platform includes an AI-powered asset discovery and categorization engine capable of not only giving you complete visibility into your connected infrastructure but also mapping how those assets connect to each other and to your critical business functions. Furthermore, Redjack helps you identify how resilient your assets are through asset resiliency scoring. This approach has a significant impact on the effectiveness of both IT and business, making cyber resilience a valuable asset.

The Redjack platform has been successfully implemented in some of the world's largest corporations and government agencies for over five years. Contact us to discover how Redjack has helped these organizations achieve genuine cyber resilience.