Streamlining Asset Identification For Effective Risk Management

|
|
|
PUBLISHED on
25
May
2022

A question that comes up time and time again is ‘How do you approach asset identification within my information security risk assessment’.  Typically, this question is twofold; which assets to include and the depth or granularity.  This week’s top tip will look at granularity.

In short, stay high level where possible.  Your goal, through the risk assessment, is to identify and then manage your risks in terms of confidentially, integrity and availability (CIA).  If you start with an asset list pages long, perhaps by taking an extract from your IT department’s configuration management database (CMDB), your results are going to be pages long.  With this level of detail, you will find yourself spending a significant amount of time trying to consolidate risks into a manageable number.  You can always go into additional detail where an asset has a different CIA value.  For example, if you have laptops which store, process or transmit information, you need to include these in your assessment.  However, you do not need to include every make and model in your assessment or even group laptops by every department; they should instead be grouped by the levels of information they have access to.  So ‘Laptops’ could be used to cover most staff members’ laptops, as they all have access to the same level of information.  You can then create a separate group for ‘Sensitive Laptops’, i.e., laptops that are used by your senior management team or HR, as these laptops will typically have a higher level of access to information.

By grouping these assets, you reduce the number of duplicated results in your risk assessment and get a more detailed and manageable representation of risk.  Also, if the controls are likely to be deployed consistently across all assets, then there may be no benefit to splitting assets into subcategories.  For example, if all laptops are encrypted and have similar endpoint controls (e.g. antivirus, firewalling), then grouping the assets in one will be appropriate.

So, consider what that asset ultimately holds or has access to, and approach your asset granularity with that in mind!

How URM Can Help

With over 2 decades of experience supporting hundreds of organisations’ information security risk management programmes, URM is the ideal partner to help you create and implement an effective and practical information security risk management approach.  With our proven information security risk management software, Abriska 27001, we can support the entire risk assessment process, identifying not only the threats to your information assets, but also the likelihood and impact of them occurring.  We can also assist with risk treatment and help you prioritise risk treatment activities to maximise your time, effort and budget.

Do you need any help with ISO 27001 certificate?

URM can help you achieve ISO 27001 certification
Thumbnail of the Blog Illustration
Information Security
Published on
4/10/2024
Implementing and Auditing ‘People Controls’ from ISO 27001:2022

URM’s blog explains why ‘people’ warrants its own control theme in ISO 27001 and how to prepare for a people controls audit, offering advice for each control.

Read more
Thumbnail of the Blog Illustration
Information Security
Published on
20/7/2022
How do I Approach Asset Identification Within My Information Security Risk Assessment?

Typically, this question is twofold; which assets to include and the depth or granularity. In this blog, we will look at granularity.

Read more
Thumbnail of the Blog Illustration
Information Security
Published on
9/5/2024
Common Pitfalls Identified in Organisations Seeking ISO 27001 Certification

URM’s blog discusses the common pitfalls of the ISO 27001 implementation and certification process, and how you can avoid making the same mistakes.

Read more
Our CE renewal was so much easier this year! Our answers from previous years were automatically carried across, saving me hours of effort re-filling previous answers, the new portal is a big step forward.
contact US

Let us help you

Let us help you in your compliance journey by completing the form and letting us know how we can best support you.