Total software assets are all critical and noncritical software assets approved for daily organizational operations. The measure establishes the denominator for understanding software inventory and criticality. section 6.2.1
Use the measure to support practical cyber-risk decisions:
- Compare critical software assets with the total inventory to calculate the ratio of critical to total software assets. section 6.2.1
- Track accountability, criticality classification, and unaccounted assets alongside the total. section 6.2.2
- Use the resulting picture to prioritize protection for applications that process confidential information or support essential business activities. section 6.2.1
TechMed Solutions
TechMed Solutions used an asset-management dashboard to monitor hardware and software supporting patient data and medical procedures. Its targets included 100% accountability, classification of 70% of software assets as critical, and zero unaccounted assets. The dashboard showed that 50% of its software assets were critical, prompting continued inventory audits and automated asset tracking. section 6.2.2
Figure 6.2 The left side shows TechMed Solutions’ asset management dashboard before managing hardware and software assets. The right side shows the dashboard after implementing hardware and software asset management.
Compare the before-and-after asset-management dashboards to see how inventory accountability and criticality classification support measurable cybersecurity improvement. section 6.2.2
