Every IT asset in your organization has the power to pose a risk to your organization. Outdated or unauthorized software can be a backdoor for a cyber attack, and expired licenses can make you lose a lot of money, just to name a few. Luckily, these can be mitigated with Risk Management automation.
As you know, automating stuff can help you avoid human error, reduce your team’s workload, and be more strategic in terms of budget. And we’re certain that you’ve already automated quite a lot of your IT Asset Management (ITAM) processes – we’re just not sure if you sorted this one out yet.
For that reason, we’re about to show you how to use certain features on InvGate Asset Management in your favor to close some gaps and avoid risking the safety of the devices.
Keep reading to discover them!
What is automation in Risk Management?
Risk Management practices look to systematically identify, assess, and mitigate potential threats. They are a central part of proactive support, as they are oriented to catch and solve issues before they interrupt the organization’s functions.
When it comes to efficient ITAM, automation is non-negotiable. And this is no exception. In Risk Management, it refers to the use of technology and software to streamline processes related to security.
Overall, it works through periodic data collection and reporting to find assets that might be at risk and potentially be a threat to the IT infrastructure. This can include malicious data in your environment due to an unable firewall, fines for expired licenses, non-compliance software that might have malware, and cyber attacks for non-updated software.
5 benefits of automating Risk Management
This practice offers numerous advantages that can significantly enhance your organization's risk mitigation efforts. Here are several key benefits of Risk Management automation:
- Maintain vigilance and avoid drift - Automated systems continuously monitor risk factors and generate alerts. For example, you can set notifications that respond to the firewall or the antivirus status, or to know if any non-compliant software is installed in your devices. This way, organizations stay responsive to emerging risks.
- Reduce human error - Automated systems reduce mistakes caused by human oversight or fatigue.
- Align with modern cybersecurity philosophy - Automation in Risk Management aligns with an updated philosophy of cybersecurity, where organizations establish a perimeter and employ automated monitoring systems to detect potential threats.
- Handle complexity and scale - Basically, automation reduces workload. Thus, it is a solid solution for complex environments where there is a large number of items to assess.
- Drive operational efficiency and human interaction - Not everything can be automated. So, when needed, automated systems escalate the issue to human experts for further assessment and intervention. This balance ensures that bigger risks receive appropriate attention and enables human expertise when needed.
How to use InvGate Asset Management as your automated Risk Management tool
So it should be pretty clear by now how automating Risk Management practices can help you keep your organization protected. But, let’s see how it’s done and which features can you need.
InvGate Asset Management has two key features you can leverage to automate Risk Management processes: Health Rules and Smart Tags. Each one is designed to address different pain points and has its own logic and functionality.
Health Rules
Asset Health Rules give you a quick view of your device's status to see if they are healthy and in compliance. They use a set of predefined criteria or parameters to determine the condition and operational status of assets monitored on your InvGate Asset Management instance.
These rules are assigned to assets based on their criticality level, and you can customize them to your needs and requirements. With this automation, you can monitor the state of the firewall, antivirus, disk space, encryption, warranty, and time without OS updates.
They work with a color code to easily identify the asset’s state:
- Green means that your devices are safe.
- Yellow means there’s a warning.
- Red means that your devices are in critical status.
Smart Tags
Smart Tags are designed to classify and characterize all types of Configuration Items (CIs) on your InvGate Asset Management instance, such as devices, users, and software. Once you configure these labels (which can be personalized to your needs), you can quickly search them in your inventory to see all the assets that match the selected criteria. With segmented information, it's easy to understand what's in danger, and what actions are required.
To put this in motion, all you need to do is configure the Smart Tags by following these steps:
- Go to Settings >> General >> Tags and create a new one.
- Fill in the mandatory fields (name, description, and color) to identify them.
- Set the parameters to trigger them.
After the labels are saved, they will be automatically attached to the CIs that meet the criteria, and that’s how you can see them when running a query.
3 Risk Management automation examples
Risk Management automation processes cover a wide range of tasks and potential issues. If you’re new to this or if you just want to see a few extra ideas, these three examples of Risk Management automation in action can come in handy:
Endpoint Management
By automating Endpoint Management, you can establish a baseline for what is considered "risky" behavior on workstations and equipment used by teams on a daily basis to keep an eye on it.
You can set InvGate Asset Management’s Health Rules to continuously monitor factors such as installed applications, firewall settings, antivirus status, and warranty status, among others. This way you can proactively detect and respond to potential risks and deviations from established security protocols.
Compliance Management
Furthermore, InvGate Asset Management offers robust capabilities for managing compliance standards. You can automate the tagging of devices that must adhere to specific compliance requirements, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
InvGate Asset Management enables automated tracking and verification of factors including security configurations, encryption, and software versions, ensuring ongoing compliance and facilitating streamlined auditing processes.
Network tracking
In the realm of network tracking, InvGate Asset Management monitors and analyzes device connectivity to your organization’s network infrastructure, including Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
By automatically capturing and analyzing IP addresses and associated device information, your team can maintain visibility into network connections. Suspicious or unauthorized devices attempting to connect can be quickly identified and investigated, enabling timely response to potential security threats or policy violations.
To sum up
Risk Management automation has become indispensable if you’re seeking to efficiently and effectively mitigate risks associated with managing IT assets. With this practice, you can not only enhance your organization’s security but also make sure that there are not any blind spots in the process.
To address this, InvGate Asset Management offers you a set of tools that you can completely customize to your needs:
- Health Rules will help you to monitor those assets that need to be healthy and in compliance.
- Smart Tags are a way to easily identify CIs of any kind that meet the parameters that you assigned to them.
These features will help you streamline asset monitoring, proactively identify vulnerabilities, and swiftly address potential risks.
So, to start implementing Risk Management automation, ask for InvGate Asset Management’s 30-day free trial!
Frequently Asked Questions
How does automation affect Risk Management?
Automation improves Risk Management by increasing efficiency, accuracy, and real-time monitoring, enabling proactive risk mitigation and reducing human error.
What are automated risk tools?
Automated risk tools are software solutions that streamline Risk Management processes, such as data analysis, reporting, compliance tracking, and decision support, enhancing overall risk assessment and mitigation capabilities.
