Cybersecurity leaders: If you’re not picturing your organization like a house, there’s likely major IT asset management gaps lurking in your strategy. 

Take a moment, close your eyes, and think with us. Picture your org like a house. 

Is it big or small? 

When it comes to your house, do you know what’s in it?

Do you know where all the important things are? Do you know all the people in your house and their whereabouts? 

What about all the mobile devices and smart things communicating on your home network? 

Most of you, depending on your IT asset management strategy, will probably answer “no,” but we will pretend the answer is “yes” for this exercise. 

Before we continue, though, we have to sit with an uncomfortable question: If you can’t keep track of everything in your “house,” how confident can you be about knowing every digital asset in your ecosystem? 

If you’re an IT manager, CTO, or CISO of a growing SMB, we know this reality check can hit hard. You’re responsible for it “all”—whether “all” looks like defending against sophisticated cyber threats, or maintaining compliance standards and enhancing operational efficiency. 

Time’s running out to get to know your “house,” though. The stakes have never been higher. The average cost of a cyberattack on SMBs amounts to $255,000+, on average, or higher, once you calculate the added cost of regulatory penalties and lost business. 

So, while the answer to the opening question may be “no” for most organizations when it comes to asset visibility, that answer has to change. Read on for six tips that will transform your IT asset management strategy into a true competitive edge, courtesy of our Guardians. 

Why Asset Management Matters (And Steps You Need to Take for Your IT Assets, Right Now) 

Effective IT asset management impacts three critical business areas for a growing SMB or enterprise: Security posture, compliance, and overall operational efficiency. This is why management of your IT assets is considered a critical foundation of your cybersecurity strategy and approach, rather than a “nice to have.” 

Tip 1: Start With A “House Inventory” 

This step is simple, but its importance can’t be overstated. The first step toward radically transforming your organization is to conduct an audit of current visibility gaps before you implement new solutions. You’ll save money, you’ll move efficiently, and you’ll lower organizational risk—all at once. 

Tip 2: Don’t Rely on Single-Point Solutions 

The IT management tools of today have created a false sense of security for even the world’s biggest corporations. If those scanners aren’t reaching all used networks due to misalignment or blindness, the data you’re seeing isn’t complete—and it might as well be useless. 

Additionally, most tools like these can only be installed on OS-based systems (like Linux, Mac, and Windows), limiting the benefit and reach they may have with all other related networking gear, security cameras, printers, storage systems, and databases. Unfortunately, these are among the most vulnerable entry points most environments have…so businesses are often at a higher risk level than they think.

The most effective approach here is to layer discovery methods to capture every asset on a network. Alternatively, you can adopt a visibility tool like Guardare that streamlines this process and proactively identifies, tracks, and prioritizes every risk and asset across your landscape. 

Tip 3: Account for Non-Traditional Assets 

Identity management adds its own layer of complexity to this “puzzle.” If you’re using sophisticated IAM solutions like Okta or Duo, for example, you’re likely getting different ID info than what will show in your directory. Additionally, you’ll need a way to track both human users and service accounts, permissions, and access patterns across the entire organizational tech stack. 

Recognizing and meeting this need helps you, as the expert, identify what permissions those identities have. For example: Does a team member only have access to their laptop and Google Workspace, or are they admins of one or more solutions/technologies? How will that affect the integrity of your directory? 

Tip 4: Build In Timelines for Continuous Testing and Validation 

Applications and third-party software applications may not be top of mind to include in your IT asset management strategy, but they should be. They all have flaws and vulnerabilities that can be taken advantage of. So they need to be tested, validated, patched, and scanned again. Just like with assets in your environment and the constant vulnerabilities that need to be patched, it's a never-ending revolving door. 

This is why traditional approaches that rely on “routine assessments” and no other form of oversight leave dangerous, gaping security gaps. Once your team has done the work involved in a comprehensive review, new risks have already emerged, and are likely already taking action on your IT assets and systems. 

Tip 5: Classify Criticality from Day One 

All of these assets, applications, websites, SaaS solutions, cloud environments, etc, all have information about the company and its customers. But do you know the criticality/sensitivity of this information? Do you know if that database is storing pictures of fluffy bunny rabbits or customer credit card numbers?

This question probes the “heart” of effective IT management. As not all data is created equal, we can safely assume that not every security measure is, either—and whatever approach we take should reflect this thought. Because without proper data classification, you’re applying the same security measures to trivial data and furthering inefficiency. Once organizations can properly classify their data, they can focus their limited resources on protecting what ACTUALLY matters (which, unfortunately, are not the pictures of fluffy bunny rabbits.) 

Tip 6: Choose Vendor-Agnostic CAASM Solutions 

With all that being said, you're probably wondering, "How can I possibly know where all of my assets, identities, and applications/software are in my environment, while still focusing on cybersecurity?" 

The answer to that for any company, even the “big” enterprises, is still a problem—but is becoming much easier with solutions like Guardare and any other true CAASM (Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management) providers that are truly vendor-agnostic.

Instead of ripping out existing native infrastructure, cyber teams can view these CAASMs as a translation layer that helps your existing tools work together effectively; aggregating data from your current security stack > demanding a replacement. 

Takeaway

Effective IT asset management isn't about having perfect visibility from day one. In fact, it's not even about having the resources you need RIGHT NOW to make a change. It's about having the awareness of what exists in your ecosystem so that you can create tailored, systematic processes that scale as your business grows. 

By viewing your digital environment like a "home" (we know you spend enough time in it, anyway!), you're able to visualize intentional organization systems, previously unseen assets, and a path forward for regular "maintenance" and defensive maneuvers that keep your IT assets safe. 

Remember: You can't protect what you can't see, but you also can't see everything at once. Focus on continuous improvement over perfect visibility, and let solutions like Guardare help you turn fragmented data into actionable intelligence that (actually) reduces risk.

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