Now that we have practical set of metrics, how to we obtain them?
- % of active vs inactive systems
- % of managed vs unmanaged systems
- % of known vs rogue devices
For an SMB/SME, there are a few options which, when combined, will provide you with a highly accurate snapshot of your organization.
Starting with user systems, the following tools have valuable data, to be combined to form your basic asset register.
- Active Directory - Everything about domain-joined systems is found somewhere in here.
- Asset/Application Management - Ideally you need a tool that synchronizes automatically with Active Directory both adding new domain-joined systems to management as well as removing recently removed domain-joined systems from management.
- Auditing Log Management - A good tool can identify active vs inactive systems, by collecting network-wide data and by taking cues from Active Directory.
- Endpoint Security - You wouldn't dream of running a system without some sort of managed endpoint security would you? So you should have very high coverage here. Extra points if you automatically synchronize with Active Directory.
- Network Management - A unified network system i.e. a single pane of glass for all switches, firewalls, and wireless is ideal and would allow you to passively monitor everything.
- Vulnerability Management - Scanner(s) are a great way to actively discover what is on your network and explicitly beyond what is expected to be found.
Now let's consider unmanaged systems. Since we have already established that unmanaged systems aren't in Active Directory, you're going to need to leverage your non-AD capabilities such as Network and Vulnerability Management. These two also help with known vs rogue devices. You have probably noted a trend.
For best results:
- Use a combination of active (AD-aware, network scanner) and passive (network management) tools. Leveraging multiple sources for your asset information reduces the risk of a single tool providing inaccurate or incomplete information.
- The appropriate choice of tools provides value beyond their immediate purpose. For example your asset management tool might provide information about network assets and your network management tool might provide information about your systems.
In Part 3, the rubber meets the road where we fully connect the technology dots to the business.
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