Naomi’s organization has recently acquired another company. Naomi is concerned about asset tracking and inventory because the acquired company does not have an inventory of their systems and devices. What major security concern should she express about this from a hardware asset management perspective?

Without an inventory, organizations may misplace, lose, or even have devices stolen. That may result in data breaches or simply loss of assets. A hardware life cycle process is an operational concern; manufacturer support is typically tied to individual devices; and vulnerability scans are possible without an inventory, but Naomi may not know what the device itself is until she physically locates it.