Software Asset Management meets cyber security – tecChannel

In his role as Regional Vice President DACH at Flexera Software is responsible Anton Hofmeier the area of ​​software license optimization for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. With more than 20 years experience in the IT industry, he cared for medium and large customers in the selection and implementation of solutions for software license optimization, as well as interfaces to other areas, such as IT Service Management, Security.

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Those who neglected the topic of software licenses in the company, risks not only financial disadvantages. Poorly or not managed software systems can also lead to serious safety problems.

Companies typically invest 25 percent of their IT budgets in software. But unlike tangible assets such as desks, chairs or equipment to software can be very difficult to track and inventory. A look at the number of desktops, laptops, mobile devices, servers and cloud-based applications in a company on which software is installed, makes the only too clearly.

Where software is exactly present on the devices , this represents only one aspect. It is much more important often to have an overview of how this software will be used and whether this use is in accordance with the contractual compliance policies. If the actual use via the combined conditions, there is a breach of the license and the company must anticipate unscheduled compensation and punishment. This can amount each year on unlicensed use of several million euros. Benefits companies their licenses not fully out, they pay the full price for a product which they have little or no use.

According to a recent IDC report, devours the complex management of software licenses in companies indirectly average 25 percent of the annual budget for software licenses. Companies rely therefore involve more and more comprehensive programs to software license optimization, the people, processes and automation tools. Thus, wasteful spending on software licenses can be avoided and maintain compliance risks associated with unmanaged software low.

Security risks caused by poorly managed software

software assets that are not properly maintained and managed, lead to huge risks for cyber security in companies. Many organizations have therefore taken up this issue and developed a range of security standards and frameworks. This includes the SANS Institute, which has created a priority list of security measures that the company intended to prepare the network prior to real threats. Topping the list: Companies need to be able to actively manage their entire hardware – including inventorying, tracking and troubleshooting. The second important measure focuses on the inventory of authorized and unauthorized software

Malware and viruses can in mismanaged software environments particularly easily spread <- empty ->
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As a central software asset management (SAM) for Cyber ​​Security is also made clear by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) / IDC report. The more software accordingly unlicensed running on the computers of a company, the higher the risk of malware. The experts’ conclusion:. Companies must not reduce licensed software to a minimum in order to ensure the security of their networks can

alone in 2014 were 15 435 vulnerabilities in 3870 Software products are discovered. This represents an increase of 55 percent over the previous year and continues the trend of the past five years. For 83 percent of all vulnerabilities patches are already available on the date of publication. In plain language this means: Each vulnerability can be resolved, companies just need to know where to find them. Software Vulnerability Management therefore becoming an essential component within security concepts.