INFORMATION SECURITY ASSET MANAGEMENT

What is asset management for information systems?

Managing Assets is a formal method of analysing all the information assets in your organization and determining how they will be managed for information security.

Information security assets could be managed in the following way:

1. Register – Compile a list of information assets or create a register of assets. The discovery of information assets requires time and effort.
2. Assign responsibility – Identify who is responsible for each asset.
3. Organize the list of assets so that the level of protection and control is proportional to the value of each asset.

Why is asset management important?

Managing assets correctly is crucial to ensuring your organization is adhering to best practices and regulations about how assets are managed. Accounting standards require financial assets to be documented in the correct way.

The goal of asset management is also to generate the highest return possible for your organization and minimize risk, which can be achieved by having your assets captured in an effective manner. By doing so, your organization will not waste money on assets they may already own, but were unaware they owned, as they were not listed on their asset register.

Assets are economically valuable resources that a business or organization owns, with the expectation that they will benefit the business or organization in the future. If you think about assets as anything that might generate cash flow, lower expenses or increase sales in the future, no matter whether it is manufacturing equipment, a building, a truck or a patent, then you have an asset.

Assets appear on a company’s balance sheet and are acquired or created to increase the company’s value or to benefit its operations.  It is astounding that businesses can have access to such valuable resources and yet be so careless about managing them.