Optimize OT Asset Management with CISA’s New Guidance

Image credit: Photo by Rebecca Wang / CC BY 4.0

The recent alert for security teams highlights that CISA has worked with NSA, FBI, EPA, and international partners to provide guidance on OT asset inventories. This isn’t the same old IT asset management – it’s about the infrastructure running power grids, water plants, and manufacturing lines. Note that the guidance, which was released on August 13th, is comprehensive and tells you how to build structured inventories with each piece of hardware and software classified by importance and function.

Organizations have four main challenges to tackle according to the guidance. First, defining scope and governance—figuring out who actually needs the inventory data, such as regulators or auditors, and setting boundaries on what counts as an “asset” in OT environments. This phase involves gathering detailed attributes for everything (location, function, configuration, lifecycle status), and building taxonomies by asset criticality is something they want so you can focus security efforts where it matters the most.

They helpfully connect the inventory work back to real security outcomes. Once you gain visibility into your OT environment, you should use that data for incident response, vulnerability management, and tracking systems nearing end-of-life. They provide practical steps beyond just theoretical frameworks; the guidance includes sector-specific examples, showcasing what water, energy, and manufacturing sectors have already worked on during workshops. It’s refreshingly direct.

So here’s the deal: if you’re working with OT environments or backing critical infrastructure clients, this guidance is going to set the baseline for expectations. NSA’s involvement signals it’s key for national security applications as well. Check out the full document—it’s got actionable checklists and avoids just dumping policy speak on you.