In 2022, the White House Office of Management and Budget established a clear directive and deadline for federal agencies to adopt a zero trust architecture strategy by September 30, 2024. Since that date has passed, agencies have either met or are in the final stages of meeting federal zero trust goals and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Zero Trust Maturity Model 2.0.
Agencies’ attention and efforts are now shifting towards strengthening cybersecurity defenses to address the more challenging aspects of the evolving cyber threat landscape. Central to achieving this objective is the ability to implement a holistic IT asset management (ITAM) solution.
For that reason, ITAM is priority one in CISA’s Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) Operational Cybersecurity Alignment (FOCAL) Plan. The process of managing and real-time tracking of the lifecycle of an organization’s IT assets, from procurement to disposal, strengthens federal agencies’ cybersecurity postures by enhancing zero trust frameworks with complete asset transparency and optimized defense against risks.
The key role of ITAM
An effective ITAM strategy equips federal agencies with a holistic view of systems and IT tools within their networks, allowing for critical insights to mitigate cyber threats and unify cybersecurity postures across federal environments. Inaccurate or incomplete ITAM can lead to confusion and delay processes for addressing IT system-related issues.
Affecting hundreds of Fortune 500 companies and multiple federal agencies, the high-profile CrowdStrike incident revealed that inconsistent asset visibility can delay incident response, increase vulnerability, and prevent comprehensive remediation. When devices are managed inconsistently, visibility is compromised, and identifying threats becomes challenging.
A standard and centralized solution for asset management helps streamline this process. Centralization and standardization also address common agency challenges, such as fragmented asset data and manual tracking processes that hinder zero trust implementation. Agencies will benefit from ITAM solutions that employ automated data collection, providing real-time asset tracking, reducing errors and ensuring that agencies maintain a single source of truth.
Automation and transparency
Incorporating ITAM into a zero trust framework delivers the transparency needed to prioritize vulnerabilities, coordinate incident responses, and streamline workflows across departments and agencies.
For a federal agency managing critical infrastructure, ITAM provides continuous and real-time data on hardware and software vulnerabilities. Agencies should automatically capture and update asset information, mitigating errors inherent in manual data entry and reducing administrative overhead. Also, scheduled data validations identify discrepancies early, ensuring that the inventory remains a reliable source of information for decisions.
Through automated discovery tools, agency teams can monitor assets in real time, flagging obsolete hardware or unpatched software as potential entry points. This visibility allows cybersecurity teams to proactively mitigate risks, reducing mean time to respond (MTTR) to emerging threats.
Federal agencies with remote or hybrid teams benefit significantly from centralized ITAM strategies too. During a cybersecurity incident, teams can easily pinpoint the security status of remote devices, including laptops or virtual machines, ensuring these are not weak links. This becomes critical in enforcing zero trust practices across disparate endpoints, allowing teams to maintain robust security postures regardless of asset location.
Understandable, user-friendly dashboards
A key function of a mature ITAM solution is the ability to create integrated dashboards and automate reporting capabilities that enable agencies to visualize asset health at a glance. Government customers frequently express the need for reliable dashboards to inform decision-making during audits and incidents, all while maintaining compliance with evolving federal cybersecurity standards.
Through tools like ServiceNow, teams can address these pain points by creating customized ITAM workflows, designed to integrate asset and security data, supporting quick access to asset information during emergencies and enabling smooth interagency communication. Centralized dashboards can offer agency IT and security teams real-time insights into asset health, configuration status, and vulnerabilities to provide transparency and ensure compliance with zero trust policies.
Enabling collaboration
For agencies required to collaborate with CISA and other entities during cybersecurity incidents, ITAM offers the ability to rapidly identify and secure affected assets. Centralized ITAM dashboards allow agencies to share precise asset status and vulnerability data with peer agencies and CISA, accelerating interagency communication and reducing exposure time during cross-agency incidents.
Another common government request is for tighter integration of ITAM with existing IT service management (ITSM) systems — by connecting ITAM data with ITSM workflows, agencies can trigger automated asset updates during ticket resolution or incident responses, ensuring asset data remains accurate across systems and that zero trust principles are consistently upheld.
In the evolving cybersecurity landscape, effective zero trust implementation relies on accurate ITAM practices that provide agencies with the asset visibility necessary to anticipate and manage risks. Through real-time, comprehensive asset data, agencies can rapidly identify cyber risks, respond to incidents and uphold a robust cybersecurity posture. Integrating ITAM into a zero trust framework isn’t just about regulatory compliance — it’s a strategic move to ensure resilience against complex cyber threats.
Chris Cullerot, VP of Technology and Innovations, iTech AG
Copyright
© 2025 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
