What is an Asset Inventory?
Contents
What is an asset inventory?
Why is having an asset inventory important?
What makes creating an asset inventory difficult?
Two common types of asset inventories: IT asset inventory and cybersecurity asset inventory
What to look for in an asset inventory solution
What is an Asset Inventory?
An asset inventory is a comprehensive list that catalogs all the hardware, software, applications, and other technology assets within an organization's IT environment. It provides essential information about each asset, such as type, dependencies, and criticality, to facilitate effective management, monitoring, and security.
Why is having an asset inventory important?
An asset inventory provides organizations with comprehensive visibility into their digital assets, including hardware, software, network devices, and data. This understanding of the IT environment is crucial for:
cybersecurity management
regulatory compliance
risk mitigation
incident response
cost optimization
Security Risk Management
With an accurate asset inventory, organizations can assess and manage security risks more effectively. By identifying and categorizing assets based on their criticality and importance to business operations, organizations can prioritize security measures and allocate resources to mitigate risks.
Compliance & Regulatory Requirements
Many regulatory standards and industry regulations require organizations to maintain an accurate asset inventory as part of their compliance efforts. Examples include the NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulations. An asset inventory helps your organization demonstrate compliance by providing evidence of asset management practices and security controls.
Vulnerability Management
An asset inventory supports proactive vulnerability management by continuously monitoring assets for vulnerabilities. It provides the data needed to analyze the risk associated with each vulnerability, considering factors such as the criticality of affected systems and the sensitivity of the data involved. That way organizations can allocate resources efficiently, addressing the most critical vulnerabilities first to reduce overall risk in your organization's IT environment.
Incident Response
In the event of a cybersecurity incident, having an asset inventory provides organizations with the visibility and context needed to respond effectively. By quickly identifying affected assets and their dependencies, organizations can contain and mitigate the impact of incidents more efficiently, minimizing downtime and reducing potential losses.
Cost Optimization
Optimize costs by leveraging the power of an accurate and comprehensive asset inventory and adopting a risk-based approach. This not only helps you optimize budget spend by prioritizing critical assets but aids in lowering costs by improving risk assessments, vendor assessments, and change management. It also helps you identify underutilized or redundant assets that can be decommissioned or consolidated. By rationalizing your IT infrastructure and eliminating unnecessary expenses, your organization can improve efficiency and allocate resources more effectively.
What makes creating an asset inventory difficult?
Scale & Complexity
Organizations often have a large and diverse IT environment with numerous digital assets spread across multiple locations, networks, and platforms. Managing and tracking all these assets can be complex, especially in large enterprises with decentralized operations. Additionally, digital assets are constantly changing due to factors such as technology upgrades, new installations, decommissioning of old assets, and employee turnover. Keeping track of these changes in real time can be challenging, especially without automated asset management tools.
Shadow IT & BYOD
The proliferation of shadow IT and bring your own device (BYOD) practices further complicates asset inventory management. Shadow IT refers to the use of unauthorized software, applications, or hardware by employees without the knowledge or approval of the IT department or management. BYOD refers to the practice of employees using their personal devices (such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops) for work-related tasks and accessing corporate networks and data. Both of these practices make it difficult for IT teams to track and manage all assets effectively.
Lack of Documentation & Disconnected Systems
A common way to create an asset inventory is to compile a database of existing documentation. In many organizations, asset documentation may be outdated, incomplete, or nonexistent. In addition, organizations may use multiple systems and tools for asset management, such as inventory databases, configuration management databases (CMDBs), and asset-tracking software. These systems may not always be integrated, leading to discrepancies and inconsistencies in asset data. This makes it challenging to create and maintain an asset inventory, as IT teams may have to rely on manual audits and assessments to identify assets.
Limited Resources
IT teams often face resource constraints, including budget limitations, staffing shortages, and time constraints. These limitations can hinder their ability to dedicate sufficient resources to create and maintain an accurate asset inventory, especially if they have to rely on manual audits to create an inventory instead of using an automated tool.
Data Privacy and Security
When creating an asset inventory, organizations must consider data privacy and security concerns, especially when dealing with sensitive information such as personally identifiable information (PII) or proprietary data. Implementing appropriate security measures to protect asset inventory data adds a layer of complexity.
Conclusion
Addressing these challenges requires organizations to implement robust asset management processes, leverage automation tools, promote transparency and accountability across teams, and invest in training and resources for IT staff.
Two common types of asset inventories
A cybersecurity asset inventory and an IT asset inventory are similar on the surface. Both involve systematically identifying, classifying, and tracking assets within an organization's environment. However, the goals of cybersecurity asset inventory and IT asset inventory are quite different. Because of this, how they are implemented and maintained as well as what they are used for are quite different.
What is an IT asset inventory used for?
An IT asset inventory is a foundational tool that addresses several critical problems in an organization's IT environment. It gives you the visibility and data you need to address the challenges inherent in managing your organization's IT ecosystem including resource optimization, software licensing, vendor relationships, strategic planning, and lifecycle management.
The benefits of using an IT asset inventory include:
Detect unknown or unauthorized assets
An IT asset inventory gives you the visibility you need to gain control over the diverse array of hardware and software components used by your organization, preventing undocumented or unauthorized devices from going unnoticed.
Optimize resource allocation
Understanding the distribution and importance of assets allows you to optimize your resource allocation. This helps you prioritize investments, upgrades, and security measures based on the criticality of specific systems.
Manage software licenses
An IT asset inventory helps you manage software licenses efficiently by keeping track of installed applications. This ensures compliance with licensing agreements and prevents legal and financial consequences associated with unauthorized software usage.
Manage third-party vendors
Organizations rely on third-party vendors for various services. An IT asset inventory assists in vendor management by tracking the systems and data to which vendors have access, allowing for better risk assessment and contract negotiations.
Improve strategic planning
With a clear understanding of its IT landscape, your organization can engage in more informed strategic planning. An IT asset inventory helps you make data-driven decisions related to technology upgrades, migrations, and overall IT infrastructure development.
Avoid using outdated or unsupported technology
An IT asset inventory helps you manage the IT asset lifecycle, giving you the data you need to plan replacements or upgrades and reducing the risk of using outdated or unsupported technologies.
Minimize costs & optimize budget
An IT asset inventory helps you optimize costs by identifying underutilized or redundant assets that can be decommissioned or consolidated. By rationalizing the IT infrastructure and eliminating unnecessary expenses, your organization can improve efficiency and allocate resources more effectively.
What is a cybersecurity asset inventory used for?
A cybersecurity asset inventory plays a crucial role in addressing various cybersecurity challenges and improving your overall security posture. It provides you with the visibility, insights, and control needed to mitigate cybersecurity risks.
The benefits of using a cybersecurity asset inventory include:
Detect unauthorized or rogue devices
A cybersecurity asset inventory provides you with comprehensive visibility into your organization’s digital assets, which can include hardware, software, network devices, and data. This visibility helps you understand your IT environment, identify all assets connected to the network, and detect unauthorized or rogue devices.
Manage cybersecurity risk
A cybersecurity asset inventory enables you to assess and manage security risks more effectively. By identifying and categorizing assets based on their criticality and importance to critical business functions, your organization can prioritize security measures, allocate resources, and implement appropriate controls to mitigate risks.
Demonstrate compliance & meet regulatory requirements
Maintaining an accurate asset inventory is often required for compliance with regulatory standards and industry regulations. (One example is the New York State Department of Financial Services’ Updated Cybersecurity Regulations.) A cybersecurity asset inventory helps you demonstrate compliance by providing evidence of asset management practices, configuration management, and security controls. It is also crucial for performing accurate audits and demonstrating adherence to industry standards and data protection regulations.
Detect, prioritize, & mitigate vulnerabilities
A cybersecurity asset inventory supports proactive vulnerability management by identifying vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your organization's infrastructure. By continuously monitoring assets for vulnerabilities, prioritizing vulnerabilities by the risk they present to the organization, and applying patches and updates in a timely manner, you can reduce your organization’s exposure to cyber threats.
Respond & recover from incidents faster
In the event of a cybersecurity incident, a cybersecurity asset inventory provides you with the visibility and context you need to respond in a quicker and more targeted manner. By quickly identifying affected assets and their dependencies, you can contain and mitigate the impact of incidents more efficiently, minimizing downtime and reducing potential losses.
Accurate business continuity & disaster recovery planning
A cybersecurity asset inventory offers insights into the full scope of your organization's digital assets including your critical assets, critical business functions, and dependencies. This understanding is integral to developing comprehensive and effective strategies to mitigate the impact of disasters and ensure the continuity of essential business operations. In the event of a cybersecurity incident or disaster, a robust continuity and recovery strategy helps you ensure that essential assets are prioritized, protected, and efficiently restored.
What to look for in an asset inventory solution
1 What use cases does the solution solve?
Which asset inventory solution you choose should be determined by the use case that you need to solve, so the first thing you do when looking for an asset inventory solution is to create a list of those use cases.
The previous section covered two common types of asset inventory solutions: cybersecurity asset inventory and IT asset inventory. When determining which asset inventory solution is best for your organization you should consider which type of inventory solution your use cases fall under.
Do you need to manage your software licenses and track end-of-life assets? Then you should consider an IT asset inventory management solution.
Do you need to demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements and create business continuity plans? Then you should consider a cybersecurity asset inventory management solution.
In either case or if you have needs that span both general types, you should evaluate prospective solutions against your use cases to make sure that they solve the problems you need them to solve. Every solution has its strengths and weaknesses, and picking a solution whose strengths line up with your needs is important.
If you need to address use cases that cover both types of asset inventory solutions, you will need to spend more time evaluating both types to see if you can find a solution that covers all the use cases you need.
2 Does it have automated 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, conducting audits, and using specialized tools to identify and document assets accurately. This is important because not every asset inventory solution has a way to do automated asset discovery.
Many asset inventory tools just collect and aggregate existing data that you already have about assets you already know about. They will combine information from your CMDB with data from existing asset management tools you may have, spreadsheet inventories maintained by purchasing, cloud management tools, and other sources. The strength of this approach is that it does help you compile all of your known asset information in one central location. However, the weakness of this approach is that the inventory you create contains only assets you already know about. These types of tools have no way to out and collect information about assets that you don’t know exist: orphaned assets that may not formally ‘belong’ to a business unit, old assets that were never properly decommissioned, or shadow IT assets that IT doesn’t know about, to name a few. In order to find these assets you need an asset inventory tool that contains a mechanism that goes out into your network and proactively seeks out and discovers all of your assets, independent of your existing databases.
Having an asset inventory tool that includes 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.
3 Does it prioritize assets based on their connection to critical business functions?
A critical business function refers to an essential activity or process within an organization that is crucial for its overall operation. These functions are typically vital to the organization's ability to deliver products or services, maintain customer satisfaction, or achieve its strategic goals. The identification and protection of critical business functions are essential components of business continuity and risk management planning.
Examples of critical business functions can vary depending on the nature of the organization and its industry. For instance:
In a manufacturing company, critical business functions may include production processes, supply chain management, and quality control.
In a financial institution, critical functions may include transaction processing, risk management, and regulatory compliance.
In a healthcare organization, critical functions may include patient care, emergency response, and data security.
Every critical business function relies on a set of IT assets to provide that service to the organization, including endpoints, servers, cloud software, and more. Identifying critical business functions helps your organization allocate resources effectively. For example, cybersecurity measures can be costly, and it is not feasible or necessary to protect every aspect of a business equally. By identifying critical functions, your organization can invest its resources where they matter the most, maximizing your cybersecurity budget while minimizing potential risks.
4 Does it map asset dependencies and prioritize assets based on them?
Dependency analysis refers to the process of identifying and assessing the relationships and interdependencies between critical business functions, components, systems, and assets within an organization's environment. It plays a crucial role in threat modeling, risk assessment, and the development of effective cybersecurity and IT management strategies.
An asset inventory should allow you to see and understand the connection and dependencies between assets so that you can understand how vulnerabilities or weaknesses in one area may affect the security and performance of connected assets, and by extension, the overall security and performance of your entire environment. Dependency analysis should be integrated as part of the overall asset inventory solution.
Dependency analysis is a fundamental aspect of cybersecurity and IT management that helps you understand the relationships and vulnerabilities within your organization’s environment. It serves as a basis for informed decision-making, risk management, and the development of effective security measures to protect against cyber threats.
The Redjack Asset Inventory Solution
In the dynamic landscape of cybersecurity, an asset inventory management solution is a crucial tool in ensuring a resilient and cost-effective cybersecurity strategy.
The Redjack platform includes an AI engine that analyzes the communications between the assets in your network in order to give you a comprehensive view of your connected infrastructure. Beyond that, the Redjack solution automatically identifies which assets are connected to critical business functions and the interdependencies between assets.
This massively scalable solution arms you with the information you need to develop a data-centric strategy to improve the efficiency of your cybersecurity and enhance incident response planning.
Contact us to learn how Redjack has been helping the CIOs and CISOs of the world's largest corporations and government agencies manage their cyber risk.
