The Expert Podcast

…So what is a cyber asset inventory and how does it affect cyber liability insurance and cybersecurity Well, in any organization or in any structure, there are many devices which are cyber. Vectors for example, your mobile device. Right is a cyber device. Even things like VIP phones that you may have in your organization, all the computers you see all the computers behind me are all devices, even things like routers. Switches.

Modems. Any device that can. to the internet is a cyber device. Now why is it important? To consider those and have an asset inventory when it comes to cyber security, because any of these devices is a potential vector for at hacker ransomware cyber threat, malicious software.

viruses to enter into your organization For example you may have excellent cyber protection on your computers on your server, but if maybe your thermostat your smart thermostat does not have good cyber security. An outside hacker. may be able to get into your thermostat and use that to infect the rest of your network. You may think well, thermostat why does that connect to my.

internet Well think about it. Every time that you have a new device that somehow connects to the internet. to allow you to get information. You remember when you first set it up?

What's your wifi password What's your login? What are all the details for that device? An excellent example of this is televisions. Your TV your smart TV in your house. When you first install it and set it up you're all excited.

First thing you do is you connect it to your router to your wifi network, and that allows your television to get…programming shows, scheduling all of the things that the internet provides The internet is great in terms of getting your devices connected, but each one of those connections is also a way that the information can go the other way instead of your TV or. Thermostat or computer accessing the internet. The internet can also flow through the other way. Now in theory, there are supposed to be protection so it only flows one way, but see that's what the hackers do That's why they call them hackers because they hack that connection. to allow

Their code or their virus to flow the other way. So first you have to start with an asset inventory, a list of all the devices on your network. There's a few ways to do that Certainly your I T person can do it. You can go into your,

your wifi network or your physical network and do a census habit list out all of the devices. Some of them you won't be able to tell from that list on your. router login. It'll just have a number a Mac number and IP number, and you'll have to kind of back trace that to which device it is. You may also have to do process

of elimination. Identify the ones you know, first and highlight them And then the ones that are still remaining go find them in your organization. It's important to do that because you need to make sure each one of those devices individually, and also at an enterprise level are protected from cyber threats. In fact this may be a requirement. For cyber liability insurance to make sure all your devices are properly protected.

You also want to do updates on those devices. Most devices are going to have some type of regular update. There. Software on their source code maybe even on things like…

Version 1.2 versus version 1.5. You want to make sure the current version is being used so that you don't have vulnerabilities or threats that can infiltrate your network. And get into more sensitive devices. For example who cares if somebody hacks into your thermostat and they make your office too hot or too cold that's not, you know life or death earth shattering, but if they use your. thermostat to get into your server where they can download your accounts payable your.

receivable. That could be a bigger problem. So. Asset inventory is a very important place to start You want to know what you're protecting, because if you just protect part of your organization and leave one opening, the rest of it doesn't matter It's kind of like having a roof over your house that you go out of your way to make sure it's secure and have one hole in it. It's not going to matter when it rains that water is going to come in and ruin the rest of your house.

You have to have all of your network protected. Good Cyber security starts with an asset inventory and then the protection goes from there. And the insurance goes from there. If you have some type of cyber liability coverage