Understanding Cybersecurity Asset Management (CSAM)

Published on: December 9, 2023

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9 min read

In the realm of cybersecurity, ignorance is not an excuse for not being able to safeguard something. Because of this, cybersecurity asset management is an essential part of the framework for cybersecurity operations in all kinds of enterprises. Cybersecurity asset management is essential to implementing a proactive, end-to-end security strategy, as it enables your security team to keep an up-to-date inventory of IT assets and the security threats they pose.

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In this article, we will cover the following topics related to cybersecurity asset management (CSAM):

• What is the definition of cybersecurity asset management?
• Why has cybersecurity asset management become increasingly important?
• What are the benefits of cybersecurity asset management?
• How can cybersecurity asset management contribute to risk mitigation?
• What is the connection between cybersecurity asset management and cyber hygiene?
• How can cybersecurity asset management work in real-world scenarios?
• How does cybersecurity asset management differ from traditional IT asset management?
• What are the challenges organizations are likely to face in implementing cybersecurity asset management?
• What are the steps in implementing cybersecurity asset management?
• What are the best practices or strategies for successful implementation?
• How can cybersecurity asset management contribute to regulatory compliance?

What is the definition of cybersecurity asset management?

The practice of continuously and in real-time identifying the IT assets that your company owns and the possible security threats or holes that impact each one is known as cybersecurity asset management. Assets can take on a variety of shapes in cybersecurity asset management. They may be more conventional gadgets, like servers and PCs. Alternatively, they may be software-defined resources, such as a cloud-based database or a domain controlled by the organization, or specific IoT, IoMT, IIoT, or OT devices.

If an attacker uses one compromised resource as a beachhead to launch a larger attack, any device, resource, or service in your IT estate might be vulnerable to risks or vulnerabilities that result in a breach of that resource and your network as a whole.

Why has cybersecurity asset management become increasingly important?

Cybersecurity asset management gives your security team and the company as a whole the visibility they need to develop a thorough security plan that proactively and swiftly neutralizes threats. Cybersecurity asset management has the following major advantages:

• Cybersecurity is not a diversion: Organizations implement new IT services or resources without allowing security to become an impediment or distraction when they have a robust cybersecurity asset management approach in place. With the assurance that any modifications they make to their cybersecurity asset management process will detect possible risks, they are free to make decisions based on business goals.
• Proactive reaction: Cybersecurity asset management makes it possible for security teams to identify dangers before they become significant issues. Teams avoid waiting to take action until they discover an active assault by constantly scanning the IT estate for new deployments and threats.
• Security visibility: Cybersecurity asset management gives the security team a list of assets and risks so it can see what went wrong and when in the event of an attack. Teams have instant access to an up-to-date record, saving them the trouble of reconstructing the state of resource deployments and settings in order to investigate the source of a breach or vulnerability.

Cybersecurity asset management gives companies more ability to recognize and respond to security threats. Most of the time, proactive security activities cannot be continued without cybersecurity asset management in place, even if it is but one element of a successful cybersecurity strategy.

What are the Benefits of Cybersecurity Asset Management?

By providing the following advantages, CSAM helps security teams evaluate, control, and even reduce the attack surface of their organizations:

• A perspective of the organization's security position in real-time.
• Visibility over the whole network.
• Capacity to identify security coverage holes and evaluate assets quickly.
• A detailed perspective of IT assets, right down to the service and application levels.
• Ongoing asset identification and discovery.
• Knowledge of the cybersecurity tools that are available on the network and how to utilize them.
• A simplified method for determining which tools provide the most protection and where to use them.

In addition, CSAM assists with activities like patch management, asset end-of-life, asset catalogs, and shadow IT detection. Additionally, ITAM, configuration management databases, IT service management, and ticket management systems may be integrated with CSAM solutions.

How can cybersecurity asset management contribute to risk mitigation?

Many firms place a high value on cybersecurity activities, but some are neglecting a crucial step. Before you can properly secure your cybersecurity assets, you need to have insight into them.

Your most valuable assets are then located, assessed, and prioritized via cybersecurity asset management. It assists you in determining the risks associated with each asset and what makes them important to your organization's cybersecurity efforts. You can benefit from a strong cybersecurity asset management program by performing the following tasks:

• Prioritize your cybersecurity budget by concentrating on the areas where investment is most needed based on the findings of your risk assessment.
• Close the most important cybersecurity holes by devoting resources to safeguarding the most important systems or procedures.
• Be proactive so that you can identify possible issues early on and put an end to them when it comes to cybersecurity management.

Another aspect of cybersecurity asset management that your company can control is its defense against cyberattacks. It's a component of what will strengthen your cybersecurity plan.

What is the connection between cybersecurity asset management and cyber hygiene?

Cyber hygiene is the term for all the preventive measures you take to lessen risks to people, devices, networks, apps, and data, just like personal hygiene does. Making sure computers are running the most recent version of their operating system is a basic cyber hygiene activity. Alternatively, they might be as intricate as repairing, blocking, or upgrading systems on their own.

The continuous procedure and discipline needed to make sure that all assets follow an organization's security best practices and rules is known as cyber hygiene.

Although the metaphor of personal cleanliness aids in the explanation of the fundamental principle, it immediately falters when considering the difficulties associated with cyber hygiene. These are only five of the most important cyber hygiene issues:

• Inability to see inside gadgets: Finding the hands that require washing should probably not be a difficulty if one practices good personal hygiene. But even just being able to see all of your assets might be quite difficult when it comes to cyber hygiene.

  The most fundamental query, "How many devices do I have, and are they secure?" has become more challenging to respond to due to the proliferation of different kinds and numbers of gadgets in our work settings.

  It becomes difficult to simply compile a thorough cybersecurity asset inventory due to unmanaged devices, cloud instances, and personal devices that have access to company data.

• Inadequate comprehension of the breadth of security solutions: After resolving the visibility barrier, you may proceed to the second cyber hygiene difficulty, which is comprehending the coverage of security solutions.

  To handle every type of device and user, organizations invest time, money, and resources in building security and management solutions.

  There are coverage gaps if one does not know where security solutions are placed and operational. Good cyber hygiene is unachievable unless holes in security solution coverage are found.

• Unable to rank vulnerabilities in order of importance: Vulnerabilities will always exist, and there may be more vulnerabilities than resources to fix them. Because of this, setting priorities is crucial when integrating vulnerability management into a program for cyber hygiene.

  Prioritizing the issues that must be fixed first is made simpler by knowing which devices are compromised by serious vulnerabilities. Cyber hygiene is employing informed vulnerability management with full asset information rather than always fixing the worst flaws on any given device.

  For example, a device that is connected to the internet but does not have endpoint security may have a medium vulnerability. Since it is hidden behind a segmented network, a vulnerability on another device can exist that is neither exploitable nor approachable.

  Teams that prioritize cyber hygiene will probably patch both devices, but because the medium vulnerability poses a greater immediate danger, they will give priority to patching that device.

• User access control: Comprehending the people who possess elevated access and consistently confirming authorizations are essential elements of any cybersecurity initiative.

• Handling IoT Devices and Cloud Assets: Which two kinds of assets are most likely to cause problems for cyber hygiene initiatives? IoT devices and cloud instances. As more businesses go to the cloud, they frequently discover that the management and security tools safeguarding their network and on-premise devices don't always function with the cloud.

  Using tools for vulnerability assessment is one example. These scanners are very good at identifying any vulnerabilities on a network by scanning connected devices. However, because cloud instances are dynamic and have a limited lifespan, vulnerability assessment tools frequently aren't aware when a new cloud instance is created, meaning it never gets scanned.

  When it comes to cyber hygiene, IoT devices provide security and IT departments with additional challenges. Our networks are being bombarded by thousands of always-on, always-connected devices that are unmanaged and frequently not covered by security standards.

Cybersecurity Asset Management: Overcoming Hygiene Obstacles

Taking care of these typical issues related to cyber hygiene doesn't have to be a hassle.

You may gain a comprehensive understanding of your environment, identify any coverage gaps, and take remedial action by utilizing a cybersecurity asset management platform.

Furthermore, constant discovery is made possible by tools and technology developed specifically for cybersecurity. This means that transient objects, such as cloud instances or Internet of Things (IoT) devices, may be recognized, comprehended, and protected as soon as they enter your environment.

How can cybersecurity asset management work in real-world scenarios?

CSAM looks at which security controls each asset is using and if they are adequately secured after identifying which assets are on a network using a range of tools and procedures. Device inventory and discovery, vulnerability management, network and security monitoring, risk analysis and assessment, incident response, and policy enforcement are just a few of the capabilities that may be part of CSAM. Moreover, CSAM support preserving regulatory compliance.

SecOps teams may utilize current technologies to achieve CSAM, but it can be challenging to correlate their data because these systems are frequently compartmentalized. These days, a lot of companies provide specialized cybersecurity asset management solutions in an effort to assist with the work.

CSAM employs the subsequent tripartite process:

1. Asset identification and counting: Tools catalog every object and scan the network. Information about the asset is contained in the inventory. Depending on the needs of the organization, the inventory may contain information about the manufacturer, location, software libraries, risk level, and version of the hardware or software, in addition to information about who owns it, who has access to it, internal policies, and compliance requirements that apply to it. The security rules and technologies in place to safeguard the asset from both internal and external security threats are decided by the CSAM.
2. Identification of gaps: Following the completion of the asset inventory, CSAM finds security coverage gaps and suggests corrective action.
3. Automated reaction: Wherever there are holes, CSAM fills them using automated methods by delivering cybersecurity resources that have been verified. Additionally, if any essential remediations aren't automatically done, CSAM may notify the SecOps teams about them.

The cycle repeats again when it is finished. With the resources that an organization has at its disposal, the procedure attempts to close any information security holes. SecOps teams might take into consideration buying and implementing extra technologies designed to comply with internal security policies and compliance standards by using CSAM tools to identify any holes that still exist.

How Does Zenarmor Can Enhance Your Cybersecurity Asset Management?

An innovation in cybersecurity asset management, Zenarmor is an NGFW (next-generation firewall) that implements proactive control and eliminates blind areas. Zenarmor goes far beyond simply identifying the devices that are connected to a network; it provides the following:

• Device identification and network visibility: Eliminate the need to hastily discern enigmatic network devices. By identifying thousands of devices in different categories from many vendors, Zenarmor provides an impeccably clear view of your IT environment.
• Access control: No more problems with policies. By enforcing granular controls with Zenarmor NGFW, one can effectively plug data breaches, prevent shadow IT, and restrict access to high-risk applications. Ensuring compliance becomes an uncomplicated task.
• Deep packet inspection: Zenarmor does not settle for rudimentary traffic monitoring. Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) exposes the true nature of each data transmission by peering beneath the veil of encrypted traffic. You will have complete visibility into the operating applications, data movement paths, and users of the system.

Zenarmor takes asset management to the next level with an integrated "Cybersecurity Asset Management (CSAM)" approach. Zenarmor NGFW doesn't just track devices; it analyze their network traffic for vulnerabilities and reports detected risks via an intuitive UI. Zenarmor seamlessly integrates with your existing security ecosystem, including SIEM and SOAR solutions, for streamlined reporting and automated incident response.

How does cybersecurity asset management differ from traditional IT asset management?

For most experts, CSAM is a more worthwhile investment than IT asset management (ITAM). CSAM offers a thorough inventory of every asset linked to a company's network, enabling it to spot risks and weaknesses before they become issues. This implies that, unlike ITAM, which only finds vulnerabilities after an attack has occurred, CSAM will be able to assist businesses in preventing assaults before they occur.

Because IT asset management (ITAM) tools only take into account software licenses, which are frequently stolen by hackers to create malware or ransomware when combined with other stolen data from another source like a database server or cloud storage account where sensitive employee information may also reside, many cybersecurity experts believe that ITAM tools do not offer enough protection against cyber attacks.

However, a basic CSAM or ITAM solution is insufficient to thrive in the current changing IT environment. The best of both worlds is required to protect enterprises against all types of cyberattacks. Let's examine both of these more closely first, though, before we have that conversation.

ITAM vs CSAM - Differences

Security teams must do more than simply keep track of IT assets. Rich and associated data from sources that are aware of every asset, including cloud, virtual, and Internet of Things assets that are frequently overlooked by ITAM, must be compiled into an inventory.

In order to satisfy the increasing need for responsible IT, a large number of businesses are utilizing cybersecurity asset management systems. Rich, connected data and an extensive inventory of assets are provided by CSAM systems, which may be utilized for incident response and compliance. This comprehensive data aids in improved triage and prioritization, which can result in quicker security reaction times and more accurate threat identification.

Most people think of ITAM as a catch-all word for all facets of asset management. The goal of CSAM, a specialist subset of ITAM, is to protect an organization from outside threats.

Organizations have a lot of "unknown zones", or places where typical ITAM isn't applicable or where asset management is minimal to nonexistent. Additionally, they lack important information about their current assets, which puts them at risk while using the business network and the internet.

On the other hand, the CSAM project's goal is to construct a proactive security process that starts with a baseline of the assets that are already in place online and progresses to a more robust posture of spotting vulnerabilities, both present and future, and knowing how to mitigate them.

What are the challenges of implementing cybersecurity asset management?

These are the top 4 obstacles that each firm must overcome in order to undertake cyber asset management.

• Finding Unmanaged Equipment: In many cases, organizations have to find unmanaged devices on their network. To put it simply, unmanaged devices are endpoints (cloud servers, on-premise servers, PCs, laptops, Internet of Things devices, etc.) that management systems are not yet aware of. These are the gadgets that an organization's cybersecurity asset management solutions are unable to find or control. Therefore, if a device is unmanaged or has not yet been identified, it cannot be protected, even with an extensive arsenal of cybersecurity technologies within an enterprise.
• Taking Stock of Every Cyber Asset: An organization's cybersecurity issues rise as it does. The absence of a comprehensive and up-to-date view of all cyber assets inside an organization's environment is one of these difficulties. Many firms continue to employ a range of outdated methods, most of which include updating spreadsheets by hand, even in the current day. In addition to being antiquated, this method is unreliable for compiling a comprehensive list of all cyber assets present in an organization's environment. In fact, adhering to this procedure can make the entire network of the company more vulnerable to cyberattacks.
• Implementing Compliance: Organizations now employ an excessive number of security solutions to safeguard their digital assets, but these tools never provide them with a comprehensive view of the real threat landscape. Furthermore, it is hard to determine whether or not every asset complies with compliance standards without the whole inventory of cyber assets. Consequently, it eventually results in the creation of visibility and compliance enforcement vulnerability gaps.
• Recognizing the Context of the Incident: Organizations find it challenging to precisely identify and assess the dependencies and linkages between various assets due to the growing cyber asset network. This entails knowing the operational context of the cyber assets, their function within the company, their vulnerabilities, and the possible repercussions of cybersecurity events. The primary causes of this difficulty are the dynamic nature of cyber assets, the volume of data they produce, and the intricate interrelationships between them. In order to prioritize risk mitigation activities and make data-driven choices about the deployment and management of cyber assets, every business has to address this problem.

What are the steps in implementing cybersecurity asset management?

The initial stage of cybersecurity asset management is identifying IT assets. The three main categories of IT assets are data, software, and hardware. All physical equipment, including computers, servers, printers, and mobile devices, is referred to as hardware. All of the installed apps and programs on these devices are considered software assets. All sensitive information, including financial records, customer information, and intellectual property, is referred to as a data asset.

Businesses may identify their IT assets in a number of ways, including by using asset tracking software, network discovery tools, and manual inventory management. These solutions let businesses keep an accurate inventory of their IT assets by giving real-time information about the condition, location, and usage of such assets. Organizations may lower security risks, find and fix vulnerabilities, and guarantee regulatory compliance by keeping a thorough inventory of their IT assets.

Securing the IT assets comes next after they have been identified. IT asset security means guarding against theft, damage, and unwanted access to IT assets. Companies can employ a number of tactics to protect their IT assets, including:

• Access Control: You can help prevent unwanted access to IT assets by putting in place access controls, including multi-factor authentication, password rules, and role-based access control.
• Endpoint Security: You can guard against malware, viruses, and other online dangers by putting endpoint security solutions like firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, and antivirus software into place.
• Data Encryption: Protecting confidential information against theft and unwanted access may be achieved by putting data encryption methods like RSA, AES, and SSL/TLS into practice.
• Backup and Recovery: Organizations may expedite their recovery from a cybersecurity event by implementing a backup and recovery plan.

What are the best practices or strategies for successful CSAM implementation?

Success factors for cybersecurity asset management differ. We've outlined four crucial elements of a successful CSAM implementation below:

• Tools for visibility: Teams want a visibility tool that can ideally regularly gather data from several sources. Although some of these solutions automate system modifications, read-only access to other asset management systems is adequate for the fundamental security use case at hand because visibility is the most important need.

• Data accessibility on several levels:

  • Operating system version, patch level, configuration, hardware or platform model, manufacturer, serial number, and configuration
  • Versions of installed applications, patch levels, setup, and information
  • Software configurations, versions, and libraries
  • Methods and sources for internal and external software upgrades, configuration modifications, and updates

• Obtaining vital data sources: Complete accountability for the infrastructure

  • within the premises
  • centralized assets held by the company that are delegated to partners, contractors, or workers

  Infrastructure with shared responsibility

  • Workloads in the cloud
  • cloud control aircraft

  Information about employees

  • Services for human resources Directories
  • Systems for managing identities

  Ownership of assets

  • Current ITSM
  • change control
  • asset management systems

• Solid ties between corporate units: For asset management systems to function, business groups must work together to collect and retain the data required. Although there are frequently other ways to get the same information, obtaining it usually takes more effort and time than requesting read-only access to another department's system.

How can cybersecurity asset management contribute to regulatory compliance?

Strong cybersecurity asset management is essential at a time when technology is advancing at a rate never seen before. It is the cornerstone for guaranteeing the safety of digital assets, offering a stronger defense against cyberattacks, and ultimately helping to comply with strict regulations.

Cybersecurity asset management is an organized methodology that focuses on protecting and managing digital assets, including data, software, and hardware. To avoid cyberattacks and have constant control and surveillance over digital resources, it is essential to have a data management solution that fully understands this idea.

It consists mostly of data, information, network resources, hardware, and software. Inventory management, risk management, policy enforcement, and compliance reporting form the foundation of this management and are all essential to preserving a secure cyber environment.

Maintaining cybersecurity as a service requires regulatory compliance, which is defined as abiding by laws, policies, and regulations. It is crucial to abide by important standards like GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOX, and ISO/IEC 27001 since non-compliance can have serious repercussions, including significant penalties and reputational harm.

The field of cybersecurity is governed by a number of standards and laws that protect user data and strengthen organizations against possible intrusions. Respect for these guidelines is crucial, particularly when it comes to data management services.

Effective asset management is essential to cybersecurity risk management because it dramatically lowers risks and upholds compliance. By using strong tactics like robotic process automation, organizations may effectively eliminate risks and protect assets from illegal access.

It is crucial to enforce security standards and make sure that requirements are followed. Asset management plays a crucial role in ensuring that policies are enforced by companies, which has a substantial influence on sustaining regulatory compliance.

A key component that shows conformity to regulations is compliance reporting. A company's ability to demonstrate its adherence to regulatory standards through accurate and timely compliance reporting is largely dependent on its ability to manage its assets effectively.