Securing Your Digital Home: Why Asset Inventory and Discovery Come First

To better explain and relate to the complex ideas surrounding cybersecurity, we sometimes compare protecting an organization’s network and data to securing a family home. It paints a clear picture of how different layers of security work together to protect what matters most. Yes, the building itself is important, but ultimately, it’s the “memories,” the pictures, the precious data inside that need safeguarding from outside threats.

An organization’s data is just as precious, critical to its past, present, and future.

Think for a moment about all the tools and devices that make up a business’s technological ecosystem: desktop workstations, mobile devices, IT/IoT/OT devices, virtual systems, web apps, data, cloud infrastructure, the list goes on. Each is essential to business operations, but each can also be a potential foothold for malicious actors. Security teams must be able to discover and identify unmanaged cyber assets to fully protect them. That’s why Asset Inventory and Discovery are crucial first steps in any cybersecurity program.

The reality is that most breaches don’t start with sophisticated exploits; they start with simple blind spots. According to the Ponemon Institute, 70% of breaches involve unmanaged or unknown assets, and the average cost of such a breach is $4.3 million (Ponemon Institute, The Cost of Unmanaged Assets, 2024). Asset discovery and inventory aren’t just technical tasks; they’re strategic imperatives.

What is Asset Inventory?

You can’t protect what you don’t know exists. Every device, application, and system connected to your network represents a potential entry point for attackers casing your digital home. Without a comprehensive inventory, organizations risk leaving legacy systems, shadow IT, and rogue devices unmanaged, creating dangerous blind spots.

Inventory means collecting details about assets in your environment: what they are, how they’re configured, who owns them, and how they change over time. For example, if there are four devices in an environment, an inventory would capture what those devices are, their configurations, ownership, usage, and lifecycle changes. In short, inventory is the process of documenting and maintaining a detailed record of all discovered assets, including attributes like owner, location, configuration, and lifecycle status.

What is Asset Discovery?

Like inventory, asset discovery is essential to comprehensive IT management. The two work hand-in-hand to provide a complete map of your organization’s digital landscape, and potential "ways to break-in” for attackers.Discovery is the process of finding and identifying all assets connected to your network that might not currently be in the inventory, including hardware, software, cloud resources, and IoT devices. For example, a network scan might uncover an old server that wasn’t previously documented. Once discovered, that server is added to the inventory and secured.

Why it Matters, and Bringing it All Back Home?

Asset discovery and inventory aren’t optional; they’re essential to protecting your Digital Home. They provide the visibility needed to identify vulnerabilities, comply with regulations, and respond effectively to incidents. In a world where attackers exploit what you can’t see, visibility is your first line of defense.

Just like securing your home starts with knowing every door, window, and entry point, securing your network begins with knowing every asset. You wouldn’t leave a back door unlocked simply because you forgot it was there, and the same goes for your digital environment. Asset discovery and inventory ensure that every “door” is accounted for and locked, protecting the valuables inside: your organization’s data, reputation, and future.

References

Ponemon Institute. The Cost of Unmanaged Assets. Ponemon Research Report, 2024.Available at: https://www.ponemon.org