How Software License Management it Benefits IT Security

How can SAM benefit IT security?

Many people are aware of the benefits of implementing SAM in terms of cost savings and license compliance but not so many consider the beneficial impact on IT security. The necessary processes and information collected from a good SAM program will by definition provide the information you need to improve IT security overall.

By providing a detailed inventory of all the software in use throughout your organization, your IT security experts will be able to identify and deal with the threats posed by software that is:

• Unsupported due to manufacturer end of life
• Not patched or up to date
• Unauthorized – a frequent source of malware and viruses
• Redundant
• Legacy

Keeping Software up-to-date

All of these types of software are of interest to your IT security experts as they are a source of potential risk. Whilst old and redundant software is relatively easy to fix – by removing it – the problem of updating software that it is still current and being used is a little trickier.

There are 2 issues to consider here. The first is when an older version of the software is still in use and needs to be replaced. Whilst the second is concerned with the latest version not being sufficiently patched up-to-date.

Both of these can be resolved with a good SAM tool. Rules can be setup that will automatically identify a particular version of a piece of software, remove and replace it with the latest version all without user or IT intervention. Similarly, proactive patch management will scan and automate the finding and updating of systems to ensure they are always patched up-to-date and protected against new vulnerabilities.

Improve IT Security Across your Organization

If you are looking to improve IT security across your entire organization, the benefits of SAM cannot be overlooked. To accommodate the demand and to help improve license compliance and IT security, Certero developed Certero for Enterprise SAM.

 Certero for Enterprise SAM has dedicated modules that deal with both these scenarios enabling you to improve security across your organization as well as enabling SAM to save costs and increase license compliance.

Need to discuss how SAM can help improve your IT security? Get in touch with Certero today.