8 ways csam helps you manage cyber risks
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8 ways CSAM can help you manage cyber risks

ByTeam Virima

Table of Contents

As an IT manager, keeping up with emerging cybersecurity threats is daunting. With asset management taking on increasing importance in the digital age, failing to protect your data can pose serious cyber risks.

For example, the SolarWinds Orion attack in late 2020 resulted in over 18000 companies having their systems and confidential data compromised. Many governmental organizations and tech giants like Microsoft were also compromised. The worst part was that the threat went undetected for months—meaning no one knew exactly how much of their data or systems were vulnerable. To avoid this issue, you need to use an asset management system that can help you mitigate such cyber risks. 

Cybersecurity Asset Management (CSAM) addresses IT cybersecurity challenges by consolidating all your IT assets into one centralized dashboard. This saves resources, keeps assets under control, and helps maintain security compliance standards. 

This article will discuss eight ways CSAM can help you easily manage your cybersecurity risks.

Here are eight ways in which CSAM can help you manage your IT assets and mitigate any cyber risks:

1. Identify assets and determine the cyber risk to each asset

According to cybersecurity experts, malware and ransomware attacks are still some of the top security issues that organizations are concerned about. However, you cannot find these cyber risks in your network if you do not know what assets are in your network. Identifying assets is a crucial first step in understanding their associated risks and building the base of cyber risk management.

The specifics of what counts as an asset will vary depending on your business model and organizational structure. From a cyber security perspective, it refers to software or virtual assets that unauthorized individuals like hackers can easily penetrate. For example, an open vulnerability in a critical software component can be used as a backdoor into the organization’s network.

Once you have a list of your assets, you can begin to assess the cyber risks each one poses. Organizations must consider internal and external threats when measuring the risk associated with each asset. Internal threats refer to any malicious activity conducted by an employee within the organization, such as data theft. 

External threats come from outside sources, such as hackers or malware attacks targeting an organization’s servers or networks. Organizations must assess these cyber risks to protect their systems from potential damage caused by these malicious activities.

2. Use a practical and minimal number of security measures

Too often, in an attempt to improve their security posture, companies tend to implement too many conflicting security monitoring measures. It happens when they do not have a CSAM tool to assess what is needed and what is not. By using a CSAM tool or an ITAM platform that offers the same capabilities, organizations can identify overlapping security measures and implement the cyber risk management processes their system needs.

Having an established CSAM system in place also makes monitoring each asset’s performance easier, enabling the IT department to routinely check for vulnerabilities and other potential threats. For example, by regularly scanning for weak passwords or outdated software versions, organizations can ensure a cyber risk-free system compliant with industry standards. In addition, having a streamlined cyber risk management process reduces the time spent dealing with security incidents.

Rather than spending hours trawling through logs or manually troubleshooting hardware issues, IT personnel can quickly identify where the problem lies and swiftly implement corrective measures. It helps minimize downtime for the company’s employees and customers. These measures form an excellent foundation for your cyber risk mitigation strategy.

In turn, it enables companies to respond quickly and efficiently when unexpected cyber threats arise—such as ransomware attacks, phishing attacks or data breaches.

3. Minimize the cyber risk incident response time with CSAM

Reducing incident response time is essential to improving cybersecurity management and maintaining a secure IT environment. On average, it takes 13 days to identify the presence of a cybersecurity threat in your network. On the other hand, discovery to notification took an average of 59 days.

To reduce this timeline, you must deploy a CSAM tool to monitor your network continuously. Organizations can quickly identify, investigate, and take corrective measures when security incidents occur by providing a rapid incident response. It helps minimize the cyber risks associated with data breaches and other cyber threats and enables organizations to respond faster and more effectively in case of an attack. 

Additionally, reducing incident response time helps improve communication between different teams working on the same issue, allowing them to collaborate more effectively and ensuring everyone is on the same page when mitigating potential cyber risks.

They can only achieve this when they have a CSAM tool or an ITAM tool with security monitoring capabilities that gives them a complete overview of all the IT assets in the organization. Using this, IT teams can quickly identify an incident’s root cause.

4. Reduce the cost and reporting of software assets

Deploy a centralized system that tracks software licenses, user rights, and access privileges. It allows organizations to more easily identify any potential security risks associated with an asset that had not been recorded or installed with the necessary security control mechanisms. This eliminates manual security monitoring and checks on each asset, saving time and money.

In addition to reducing cyber risk management costs, CSAM helps organizations create accurate and detailed reports about their assets. It includes information about the number of licenses purchased, who has access to them, when they were assigned, and which version is currently installed.

A comprehensive view of all assets allows for better decision-making when purchasing new software or reallocating existing ones. Companies can make better use of their resources and ensure that they remain up-to-date on their software purchases while at the same time ensuring compliance with industry regulations. It eliminates the potential for not knowing what is happening within your network at any given time.

5. Update software and hardware regularly

ThoughtLab’s report found that asset misconfigurations, human error, poor maintenance of assets, and unknown assets are the most common reasons for a cyber attack. You leave your assets open to vulnerabilities when you miss important patch updates and avoid regular maintenance updates.

A CSAM platform allows IT administrators to ensure security monitoring of their assets and inventory and maintain data accuracy. Additionally, it helps quickly identify unauthorized or unapproved devices at risk of infiltration from outside sources.

You can have automatic tracking in place for all devices that are connected to the network, as well as be able to track which devices still need to have their software or hardware updated. It allows IT admins to take action against cyber risks before they occur proactively. Additionally, with these tools, you can automate vulnerability scanning on specific IP ranges, ensuring that network vulnerabilities are regularly identified and addressed. 

Plus, it helps ensure that all hardware and software versions comply with your security policies and standards. Such cyber risk management ensures that applications are up-to-date with the correct security protocols to protect against potential attacks. With its reporting features, administrators can easily manage compliance levels across the organization without manually checking each device individually.

6. Inventory your IT assets and map their interdependencies

A CSAM tool can be invaluable when mapping an organization’s interdependent assets. With the help of such a system, businesses can accurately record and map all of their assets and related dependencies. It allows organizations to identify any potential cyber risks associated with each asset and how one asset may affect another in terms of performance or security.

For example, suppose an organization has numerous hardware resources dependent on each other, such as servers and routers. In that case, the tool can provide an inventory of what exists in the network. 

Then, you can use those insights and feed that data into a service mapping tool to understand how each resource interacts. This capability helps to understand better how these assets interact and what needs to be done to ensure optimal performance. The tool also helps identify potential conflicts between different assets that could lead to potentially serious issues if not addressed quickly. 

It helps increase visibility into resources’ relationship with one another and allows teams to reduce cyber risk by proactively monitoring the health of their infrastructure. Additionally, it provides actionable insights into how different components interact so that organizations can make informed decisions about changes or upgrades to maintain peak performance without compromising security or reliability.

7. Categorize IT assets for efficient security monitoring

CSAM tools can help you categorize IT assets based on specific parameters, making security monitoring more efficient. These parameters include the type of asset, its purpose, the data stored on or in it, and the associated risk. For example, a laptop computer used for sensitive operations might be categorized as high cyber risk and require more significant security measures than one primarily used for web browsing or email correspondence.

This categorization can help organizations plan better strategies to manage their IT assets. Knowing the types and purposes of different assets helps to allocate resources optimally and ensure that all required levels of security are met. Plus, it allows for more granular management when assigning responsibilities for different types of assets. 

You can also use it to manage costs associated with upgrades and maintenance by keeping track of when they are due and when they will need replacement. It allows organizations to budget accordingly and ensure their systems are always up to date with the most current versions available, maximizing efficiency for all involved stakeholders. 

8. Track unconventional assets at all times

You can also use CSAM to track non-conventional assets, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, virtual machines, and more, to ensure they are properly managed and secured. It ensures that all equipment is updated with the latest patches and updates and any other security measures taken by the organization.

The constant security monitoring provided by the tool also identifies potential security threats associated with non-conventional assets. It can detect unauthorized access attempts through malicious activity or changes made to settings without authorization. By tracking changes such as these, IT teams can take steps toward mitigating potential cyber risks before they become problems.

Reduce cybersecurity risks with Virima’s ITAM tool

Cybersecurity asset management is not only a way of staying ahead of existing internal and external threats but also complying with the requirements of industry regulations like GDPR. As the nature of cyber risks evolve faster than network upgrades, companies must integrate one continuous tool to protect their digital assets. Virima can be that tool as it provides a unified view across all users, applications, networks, and devices, assessing risk infrastructures and ensuring ongoing compliance with multiple industry standards.

It can help you create an accurate inventory of your assets using intuitive discovery algorithms. Using that data, it can build intricate and dynamic visual service maps by incorporating data from its ITAM system. Combining this data with data retrieved from security database integrations like NIST, CVE, and CPE, it can identify, categorize and intimate relevant stakeholders if there are threats (cyber risks) in the network.

By automatically establishing a baseline of your assets and their configurations, IT teams can gain visibility into the entire network. Once you know what exists, you can assign ownership and categorize assets based on business criticality. 

Plus, the asset management software continuously scans the network to learn its inner workings so that it becomes easier to determine the validity of a threat. By monitoring assets throughout their entire asset lifecycle, you can ensure prompt asset maintenance and patching—mitigating potential threats.

To close the loop and ensure your business is protected from evolving cybersecurity pitfalls, book a demo with Virima today. By implementing asset management now, you will be well-equipped for any cyber risks IT may bring in the future.

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