How Does ITAM Improve Your Device Security?

Your employees are using more devices than ever. And cybersecurity threats are only getting harder to stop. See how IT Asset Management (ITAM) can help you ensure device security across the enterprise.

Today, it’s not possible to protect every IT asset without an efficient IT Asset Management (ITAM) solution. There are just too many devices, tools, and services out there to keep track of.

Just think about it. Your average employee probably uses a computer and a mobile phone. They might use a tablet or wearable device, too. Plus, they need access to a variety of enterprise servers and applications. If a hacker gains entry into even one of these data sources, it’s only a matter of time until they work their way into other systems and find the sensitive information they’re looking for.

And cyberattacks are only getting more sophisticated by the day. Whether you’re faced with an advanced software exploit or a stolen employee device, you’re responsible for protecting your company’s tech. But that doesn’t mean you have to do everything by yourself. ITAM can help.

So, how does ITAM keep your enterprise devices safe?

ITAM Reduces Risk

Uncertainty can be terrifying for an under-prepared IT department. And there’s never been more of it out there to face. Security threats, legal liabilities, and unforeseen attacks are made even worse when you don’t know where IT assets are located or managed.

ITAM paints a complete picture of your environment’s vulnerability landscape to help you understand which devices, tools, and services are being used dangerously – as well as how. Once they’re properly tracked, you can get to work and effectively reduce the security risks that result for lost, stolen, or inadequately configured assets.

ITAM Provides Control

Through ITAM, you know which users are specific software products. And by knowing this information, you eliminate unnecessary applications or licenses – eliminating the risk that’s caused by missing a vulnerability when you’re trying to manage too many software products at once. ITAM helps you control individual requests, purchases, and patches by giving you a single location where any relevant data is stored.

On the hardware side of the IT spectrum, unauthorized assets always pose a threat to your network. But ITAM helps here, too. Because these solutions work alongside your network discovery tools to help you monitor any device that connects to your systems. And that means you’re given insight to put the most effective access point protections in place.

ITAM can even be configured to give you notifications about assets that haven’t connected to your network in an extended period of time, allowing you to investigate why this is the case to determine if a device was lost or stolen and needs to be replaced.

ITAM Ensures Software is Patched and Up-to-Date

Outdated versions and software that isn’t properly patched is a huge red flag for your organization’s cybersecurity efforts. Until, of course, you implement ITAM to track assets both in the field and in storage. Once you’re given a comprehensive and accurate device inventory, it’s possible to verify the data and configuration of any software used – ensuring all of your digital tools remain updated and safe.

ITAM Makes IT Assets More Visible

ITAM makes your IT assets infinitely more visible – even at the individual level. It shows you data such as the physical location of a device, who’s using it, and the configuration and operating system settings that currently reside on it. That way, if a device doesn’t report into the network, or doesn’t properly respond to a security update, you know where it’s at and how to fix it before there’s a chance for exploitation.

ITAM Ensures Security Controls Are Applied

An ITAM solution doesn’t just make your asset security easier to track; it’s a tool that helps you enforce your security controls and ensure your devices are being protected. By associating specific assets to an IT project or service, your team can properly secure each individual asset – making it more likely that the restrictions you put in place maximize safety without negatively impact a technology’s functionality.

ITAM Maps Software Assets

Keeping track of software licenses, packages, and purposes is a task that can overwhelm already over-worked IT teams. When ITAM maps these assets, however, the change from a security standpoint can be revolutionary. That’s because ITAM helps you reduce the number of software applications you use (as well as the number of people accessing them) – effectively minimizing your risk of exposure.

ITAM Sets Security Priorities

As you know, not all assets are equal in an IT environment. ITAM can help you categorize devices, services, and tools by defining their operational function. So, for example, a critical asset can be tagged as a specific item, managed in a more appropriate database, and governed by more relevant security processes to make sure that any changes, updates, or modifications are approved before they occur.

This also gives you the ability to identify and isolate any IT assets that contain sensitive proprietary information into a highly secure location. And, if compromised, can be assigned to a customized incident response that features a heightened level of urgency and need for proper data wiping/disposal.

ITAM Improves Reporting Accuracy

You can only protect what you know about. And ITAM gives you even greater insight into your assets by improving the accuracy of any report generated by your IT security experts. After all, ITAM provides a single, verified source of truth for every asset your business manages – and that includes security settings and configurations, too.

ITAM Tracks Non-Traditional Assets

Non-traditional assets such as the Internet of Things (IoT) are flooding the enterprise IT space. And, because these tools can’t be secured the same way as desktop and mobile devices, they’re increasingly being used by hackers as an attack vector that bypasses most security protocols.

ITAM keeps these non-traditional assets visible to highlight when a device – or its supporting infrastructure – is vulnerable and isn’t properly secured or updated.

When it comes to security, there’s no such thing as doing too much. If you want to take ITAM and your device security to the next level, partnering with an expert solution provider like FileWave can give you the next-gen protections your technology needs. Check out how we’ve helped companies like you manage devices for almost three decades.

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