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Assignment and Accounting

Asset assignment is the practice of formally linking IT equipment or services to a specific individual or department to establish clear ownership and accountability. Directly assigning high-value or high-risk items to named individuals produces the strongest security outcomes.

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About this video

Effective asset management begins the moment a product or service enters an organization, and one of the most critical early steps is formal assignment — linking each asset to a named individual or a defined department. This practice creates a sense of ownership that directly influences how carefully people handle and protect equipment. Research and practical experience consistently show that people exercise greater care over resources they are personally responsible for than over shared or communal property. The difference in behavior across assignment levels is significant. An asset assigned to a specific employee tends to receive the highest level of protection, as that person understands the responsibility is theirs alone. A departmentally shared asset receives moderate care, since accountability is distributed and no single individual feels fully responsible. An unassigned asset with open access receives the least protection, as no one feels compelled to safeguard it. For high-theft, high-value items — particularly laptops, tablets, and smartphones — direct personal assignment is the industry-recommended approach. Assigning these assets to a named individual establishes a clear chain of accountability, simplifies auditing and tracking, and gives the asset holder a concrete stake in keeping the equipment safe and secure throughout its use.

What you'll learn

What's covered

Asset Assignment & Ownership

Aligned to

NIST CSF
ID.AM-05 Assets are prioritized based on classification, criticality, resources, and impact on the mission.
NIST 800-53
CM-8 System Component Inventory
ISC2 CISSP
2.1 Identify and classify information and assets
CompTIA Security+
4.2 Explain the security implications of proper hardware, software, and data asset management.

Key terms

Asset
Any resource of value to an organization, including hardware, software, data, and personnel.
Accountability
The obligation of an individual or department to answer for the custody, use, and safekeeping of an assigned asset.
Asset Assignment
The practice of formally assigning IT assets to a specific person or department to establish ownership and responsibility.

Topics

Asset Management It Asset Tracking Accountability Asset Assignment Security Governance Risk Reduction

Transcript

Once we purchase a product or a service, we're going to need to start managing it, and one of the best ways to do that is by having somebody accountable for it, by creating some sort of ownership. So what we're going to do is assign it to a person or a department.

Let's develop a little scenario. Let's say you're one of my employees and I give you a laptop to use. It's assigned to you, only you use it, and you don't carry it around and give it out to anybody else. Now, how careful are you going to be with that laptop? Are you going to keep it protected during travel time? Are you going to leave it out at a coffee shop while you go use the restroom, and leave it out for a while? Are you going to put it out in your car where it can be seen by anybody that's walking by, that could break into your vehicle? You're probably, or hopefully at least, going to be fairly protective over that laptop, because you have a sense of ownership over that laptop.

Now let's give two other scenarios. Let's say that laptop is actually assigned to your department, and anybody in your department can check it out and use it. Or maybe it's not even a checkout system; maybe it's just out and about and you can grab it and use it whenever you want, maybe use it in a meeting or just take it with you to a coffee shop and use it there. How careful are you with that piece of equipment now? Well, you're probably still going to be somewhat careful with it, but maybe not as careful as if it was yours, that you were responsible for that laptop.

Now let me give you one other scenario. Let's say it's just a company resource that anybody could use. It's just laying out, you can take it, you can use it, and then where would you put it back? How would you keep it? How would you treat that? Now hopefully, once again, you're still careful with it. But really and ultimately, most people are a lot more careful with something that's assigned to them than what would be assigned to the department, and even less careful with it if it's just not assigned to anyone.

And so that's what ownership is all about: creating some sort of ownership and accountability for keeping that laptop safe and secure. The best way to keep an asset safe is to directly assign it to a specific person, somebody that's going to have a certain sense of ownership over it, that feels like it is their responsibility and has some sort of accountability that they keep it safe.

And so what we want to do is assign some of these products, especially high-theft items like a phone or tablet or a laptop, directly to a person, so that they have some sort of accountability and ownership over that product.

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