Introduction
Unless you are a completely new organization or maybe an established organization that had the foresight to implement rigorous asset tracking when you deployed your network devices (desktops, switches, etc), you most likely could use an automated tool to assist in getting this asset control up to date.Why is asset control important to information security?
There are a number of reasons why asset inventory should be something that is as much a part of an information security program as is a firewall such as business continuity, asset theft, license control, hardware and software currency. As stated in Business Continuity in a nutshell, how can you protect what you don’t know you have. A great example of this is organizations that maintain an up to date inventory or their network assets are much better prepared to react to a security bulletin about the latest malware floating around the internet. E.G – organizations that knew where and how many MS SQL servers existed in their environment were much better situated to block firewall ports and apply patches in a timely fashion when SQL slammer hit.There are many, many tools that exist on the market to help IT staff build this inventory and they range in price from inexpensive to very expensive depending on the feature set and scalability. As with all security tools; an organization should match their software purchases with a package that meets their requirements. Here is a list of ten tools, descriptions from the manufacturers, and other relevant information to get you started down the evaluation path.
Continue reading to see the 10 tools.
