Overview#
Authoritative catalog of hardware, software, and services in the environment. Enables patching, vulnerability management, and incident response by knowing what must be protected.
Core objectives#
- Establish shared definitions of Asset Inventory for security, engineering, and leadership teams.
- Connect Asset Inventory activities to measurable risk reduction and resilience goals.
- Provide onboarding notes so new team members can quickly understand how Asset Inventory works here.
Implementation notes#
- Identify the primary owner for Asset Inventory, the data sources involved, and the systems affected.
- Document the minimum viable process, tooling, and runbooks that keep Asset Inventory healthy.
- Map Asset Inventory practices to standards such as ISO/IEC 27001, NIST CSF, or CIS Controls.
Operational signals#
- Leading indicators: early warnings that Asset Inventory might degrade (e.g., backlog growth, noisy alerts, or missed SLAs).
- Lagging indicators: realized impact that shows Asset Inventory failed or needs investment (e.g., incidents, audit findings).
- Feedback loops: retrospectives and metrics reviews that tune Asset Inventory continuously.
Related practices#
- Align Asset Inventory with defense-in-depth planning, threat modeling, and disaster recovery tests.
- Communicate updates to stakeholders through concise briefs, dashboards, and internal FAQs.
- Pair Asset Inventory improvements with tabletop exercises to validate expectations.