A key challenge: Mapping
As your software inventory and array of devices grows, having a central asset deployment command center is key to managing and securing it all. But many of our respondents lack this essential function. We’ve seen this, ourselves, in our work with clients.
On the other hand, when ITAM and cyber work together, the results can be very effective. ITAM can be invaluable for such tasks as:
- Discovering a device’s location, configuration, and ownership
- Prioritising critical infrastructure, by identifying the most significant assets
- Helping with compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and with standards such as the Payment Controls Industry-Data Security Standard
- Monitoring and managing inventory as against the entitlement of hardware and software assets
- Patching IT asset vulnerabilities
- Improving helpdesk response by telling staff what is installed and alerting them to errors and other issues.
Fully knowing your enterprise’s full array of IT assets is a cybersecurity must. This includes your devices, software, endpoints, connections, and other assets. You must also understand how these assets connect with one another and with organisational systems and services. Not having this knowledge could open the door to a cyber breach.
For many, creating the map that provides this information is a tedious, time-consuming task. To accomplish it, you will need input from ITAM and specialised dependency mapping tools. Before beginning, it’s imperative that you thoroughly understand what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what the scope of the task will be.
With so many tasks to perform, it might be easy to focus on the details and lose sight of the big picture, which is your overall goal. Strive for a big-picture view of your organisational systems and networks and how to protect them. A top-down, panoramic IT asset approach is the best way to ensure ongoing success.
