Technology assets represent the physical assets your organization uses to process, transmit, analyze and store information.
The global assignment for Technology Assets includes, among others, characteristics that allow you to identify:
- In which Technology Assets your personal data resides, and the security level of these assets.
- By which applications your personal data is being consumed and produced.
- In which jurisdiction your personal data is being hosted.
- Which risks and security issues could impact your applications.
The following table shows the relevant Technology asset types and example descriptions.
| Asset type | Example description |
|---|---|
| Technology Asset | A piece of information technology (hardware, software, database, software platform) that helps an organization run a business application. |
|
Application |
A classification of computer program designed to perform specific tasks, such a word processing. |
| Database | A collection of data that is systematically organized or structured in order to make it easy to create, update and query the information. |
| Directory | An organizational structure that contains files and/or other directories. |
|
End User Tool |
A way in which a user can interact with data at rest, with manual intervention, to manipulate or consolidate data. |
| File | A collection of data that is treated by a computer as a unit, for the purposes of input and output. |
| File Group | A collection of physical files which, together, represent a single logical file. |
| Network | A computer network or data network is a digital telecommunications network that allows nodes to share resources. In computer networks, network-connected computing devices exchange data with each other using a data link. |
| Paper Document | A carrier of data in paper form. |
| S3 Bucket | An asset type that represents buckets in an Amazon S3 repository. |
| Server | A computer program or device that supports other computer programs and their users. |
|
Software |
Software is a collection of instructions that enables the user to interact with a computer or its hardware and perform tasks. |
| System | Executable software that you can buy commercially off the shelf (COTS), or build internally, to automate one or more business functions that help run a business smoothly and efficiently. |
Technology assets should be inventoried and related to all relevant policies, including:
- Policies pertaining to the type of information stored in the assets.
- Policies that address the handling and storage of backups.
- Asset end-of-life and disposal policies.
- Jurisdiction-focused policies.
Technology Assets by domain
Tip Consider creating high-level Technology Assets first, such as Systems and Applications. Later, you can add more granular-level assets. In the global assignment of the relevant asset types, you can view the default attributes configured for each asset type. You can add any additional attributes to suit your needs.