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The Forescout Platform:
Real-Time Asset Management for
the Enterprise of Things

The Challenge: Knowing the Status ofYour Assets at All Times
Accurate asset management continues to be a prerequisite for‘‘effective IT management, security enforcement and corporate

By 2024, the number ofgovernance. Understanding the real-time status and compliance state

enterprise internal andof every connected thing across your enterprise also opens countlesspossibilities to improve operational efficiencies across the business.
Today, businesses need an automated way of maintaining real-timeexternal hardware andsoftware asset audit

asset intelligence for every device across the Enterprise of Things (EoT)

requests will increase by– regardless of whether these assets are physical or virtual IT systems,

100%, up from approxi-

operational technologies (OT) or Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Without this capability, organizations face high manual labor costs,

mately two and a half toless-than-optimal performance, potential downtime and risk of security

five requests annually.

breaches due to asset intelligence gaps. These dangerous gaps can becaused by data insight time delays, dependency on management agentsto gather data, or incomplete, non-correlated data.

G A RT N E RApril 2019 1

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Consumers of real-timeasset data

For these reasons, asset management solutions
must constantly infuse their configuration
management databases (CMDBs) with realtime, contextually rich asset data that canAsset, service, security and operations management

power business processes and drive digitalbusiness functions all rely on accurate and current

transformation. That’s why Forescout partners withasset records (see Fig. 1). They can have linked

leading IT service management vendors such as

datasets that help to improve productivity andServiceNow®.

solution functionality. However, when the asset

Without an automated way of maintaining
real-time asset intelligence for all devices,organizations can face high manual labor

database source is not continuously refreshedas new assets join the network or configurations
change, dependent systems are less effective.

costs, less-than-optimal performance, potential

Typical asset databases cannot continuously

downtime and risk of security breaches due todiscover and collect data for all network-connectedasset intelligence gaps.

devices in real time, especially for agentless
IoT and OT systems. To make matters worse,

COST & GOVERNANCE•

CFO/Finance•Warranty & License•

Contracts & Legal•

Software Manager•

Logistics

extensive manual labor is often deployed—usuallywith unrealistic expectations that these humaninterventions can close the information gap andmaintain a trusted asset database. This creates avisibility gap where critical assets are unknown orunmanaged.
To close this visibility gap, many asset management
solution vendors recommend integrating one ormore third-party discovery technologies suchSERVICE & SECURITY OPERATIONS

as their own point-in-time discovery tool(s),Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager•

CIO/CTO/Ops•

Service Manager•

Service Desk•

Incident Manager

and resolve conflicting or inconsistent data before•

Change Board

establishing a trusted baseline of assets. Even•

Field & Ops Staff(SCCM), Active Directory and other management
systems, then combining the results into theirasset database. This forces staff to sort througheach discovery event stream, look for duplicatesworse, this costly, thankless and error-prone
process becomes out of date the instant it iscompleted.

Figure 1: Consumers who need accurate real-time asset data.

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Poor data input = ineffective
business and security
operations

the functions that rely on that data’s accuracy—
and, potentially, the assets themselves—far lesseffective. Poor data also opens doors to risk.
Unaccounted for or unmanaged technology assets

Figure 2 illustrates the relationship between asset

create vulnerable entry points for malicious actors,

discovery and dependent systems, services andboth inside and outside the organization, to exploit.

organizational functions. What’s noteworthy is that

To address these problems, organizations needincomplete asset discovery and visibility ultimately
result in inaccurate data driving dependent services
and functions. This highlights the domino effectof how incomplete asset intelligence reduces theeffectiveness of managing, servicing and securingassets. Put simply, missing asset data makes

an automated solution that provides continuous
visibility of all networked assets in real time,assesses their configuration properties in detail,monitors for changes and feeds accurate asset
information to a multitude of dependent services
and solutions. Forescout offers such a solution.

Accurate, Automated Asset Intelligence
Higher overall costs

Reduced overall costs

More manual laborLess manual labor, more automation

Siloed systems

Orchestrated systems

Unsecured, rogue devices

Enterprise-wide security across all devices

Sporadic, missing asset intelligence

Real-time, accurate asset intelligence

WITHOUT FORESCOUTWITH FORESCOUT

Ineffective Asset Management& Business Operations

Efficient, Effective Asset Management& Business Operations

Inaccurate Asset Database

Complete Asset Discovery & Assessment
Always Accurate IT, OT, IoT Asset Database

Incomplete Asset Discovery

Complete Asset Discovery & Assessment

Periodic IT-centric asset visibility
Manual inventory & asset database updates
Requires agents & custom integration
Manual data correlation
Lack of network & location context

Continuous IT, IoT, OT device visibility
Automated asset database updates
No agents & pre-built integration
Automatic data correlation
Pinpoints exact location

Figure 2: The Forescout platform automates asset data collection to improve efficiency, accuracy and situational awareness.

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The Forescout Solution
Providing real-time asset management of all IP-connected devices is essential in today’s fluid and dynamicbusiness environment. The Forescout platform’s ability to provide real-time, accurate asset intelligenceacross device types, organizational units and functions delivers significant business value by:

Avoiding manual, error-prone and expensive inventory processes: The Forescout platform canstreamline and automate an accurate asset database/CMDB and eliminate infrequent, timeconsuming manual inventorying—the cost of which can easily exceed $1 million per year for
medium-sized networks.
Helping ensure and demonstrate compliance: Real-time contextual updates to the asset
database/CMDB provide a single source of truth for accurate asset intelligence, governance,security operations management and reporting. Policy-driven remediation also demonstratescompliance.
Boosting operational efficiency: In addition to feeding the CMDB with real-time asset
intelligence, the Forescout integration with ServiceNow also enables organizations toautomatically create an IT or security incident record, automate remediation/workflows andcreate a complete audit trail that is synchronized with the asset record.
Accelerating incident response: The Forescout platform provides IT service and security
operations teams with rich device context to prioritize and remediate issues, as well as an
automated means to restrict or block the network access of noncompliant or compromised
devices. Policy-driven remediation actions can be triggered automatically by either Forescout orServiceNow.
Empowering smarter decision-making: The Forescout platform facilitates accurate asset
intelligence that is the basis for strategic decision-making and policy creation as companies
plan and implement digital transformation initiatives. Also, the comprehensive visibility into
networked assets that the platform provides leads to enhanced asset lifecycle management
while also helping executives to better understand business risks and make more informed
decisions.
Cutting costs: By accurately tracking installed software, the Forescout platform helps
organizations comply with licensing agreements, reduce penalties and reassign unused software
licenses. It can also reduce operational costs and help avoid noncompliance and associatedfines by improving the security posture of devices by automatically enforcing configuration andendpoint security tool requirements.

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How Forescout does it
The Forescout platform serves as the foundationthat fosters an accurate source of asset
intelligence that business, IT and security
operations solutions and teams can depend on
to be more effective. With the convergence of IT
and OT networks, it is increasingly essential tocohesively inventory, classify and assess both
environments to fully understand and address
enterprise-wide risk.
The Forescout platform uses a combination ofagentless methods to discover every IP-connected
physical and virtual device on the extended
enterprise network. Its technology- and vendoragnostic approach is not dependent on data fromany individual network architecture. Forescout also
automatically classifies and continually assesses
devices using passive- only profiling techniquesthat don’t disrupt critical business processes orintroduce operational risk. By being able to apply
deep packet inspection of over 100 IT and OT
protocols, Forescout gains real-time contextual
insight across virtual and physical devices of alldetailed asset inventory and baseline of “normal”
network communications in the Forescout
platform’s real-time asset repository for immediate
analysis, policy-enforcement and access control.
Forescout can also automatically share this richreal-time information with other platforms, suchas the ServiceNow platform CMDB, to enhancethe effectiveness of downstream applications
that depend on a CMDB for accurate, complete
asset intelligence. For more information on how
Forescout sees and assesses all devices, visit www.
forescout.com/eyesight.
The Forescout platform can also use its real-time,rich asset intelligence to automatically apply
granular policy-driven controls to continuously
enforce configuration, security and accessrequirements. Forescout offers a broad array ofhost and network-based controls that can help
streamline asset management, service and security
operations by automating workflows using realtime asset intelligence. For more information on
Forescout control capabilities, visit www.forescout.
com/eyecontrol.

types, including:• Traditional IT endpoints, including mobiledevices• Data center• IoT and OT/Industrial Control Systems (ICS)• Physical and software-defined networking
infrastructure
The solution collects valuable in-depth contextual
information, such as device type, manufacturer,
OS configuration, applications installed, patchstate, network location, currently logged-in users
and more. It uses this information to create a5

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Extended Real-Time Situational Awareness to Systems andSecurity Management

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENTSECURITY MANAGEMENT

Incident

Host-Based Security

Patch

Industrial
Systems

Cloud &Virtualization

Security Event

System Event
Configuration
Asset

ASSET INTELLIGENCE

Vulnerability

Network &Storage

Wireless &Mobile

Endpoints &Servers

Application& OS

POLICY-DRIVEN ACTIONS

Risk
Advanced Threat Detection

DISCOVER

MONITOR & REMEDIATE

Figure 3: The Forescout platform continuously discovers assets on the network and feeds detailed asset information to numerous third-party systems tostreamline management operations.

Extending Visibility andControl to Streamline Assetand Security Operations

Forescout eyeExtend solutions provide bi-directional
orchestration with leading management and security
tools, leveraging the Forescout platform’s real-time
visibility and control to further streamline asset

The Forescout platform, combined with Forescout

and security management processes. For more

eyeExtend products and Base Modules, allows

information, visit www.forescout.com/eyeextend.

organizations to gain comprehensive visibility andorchestrate closed-loop processes with critical asset

Forescout eyeExtend for ServiceNow®

and security services to increase efficiency andForescout eyeExtend for ServiceNow enables bi-effectiveness.
With over 40 Base Modules,* the Forescout platform
provides native integration with leading IT and OT

directional integration of the Forescout platform
with ServiceNow solutions: ServiceNow platform
CMDB, IT Service Manager (ITSM) and Security

network switches, routers, wireless appliances,Operations.

firewalls, VPN concentrators and data center

The integration orchestrates information sharing

and cloud solution providers—thereby helping toconsolidate asset discovery and draw a more indepth and accurate picture of connected assets.

and workflows driven by a single source of truth
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ServiceNow platform CMDB. The database isThrough Forescout eyeExtend for ServiceNow,

automatically updated by the Forescout platform

ServiceNow can also direct the Forescout platform

and leveraged across multiple use cases allowing

to take policy-driven actions that accelerateorganizations to manage assets better, enforce

remediation of service and security incidents suchconfiguration and security policies, quickly respondas patch updates, restarting services and blocking

to incidents or breaches and make more informed

or isolating noncompliant/compromised devices

decisions.

on the network. Once remediation is complete,
eyeExtend for ServiceNow updates the CMDB withThe Forescout-ServiceNow integration also
dramatically improves efficiency and effectivenessby automating portions of IT service and security
operations. For example, ServiceNow IT andthe new state and allows access according topolicy. Organizations thereby achieve closed-loop
processes and accurate incident lifecycle reporting.

Security Incident records/tickets can automaticallybe created via Forescout as policy violations andcompromised devices are detected.

With the Forescout solution, we save millions from exponentially faster audits that
produce fewer findings and require less remediation effort. That savings doesn’ttake into account savings from avoiding a breach, thanks to improved ability tokeep endpoints compliant and unauthorized devices off the network.
P H I L B AT E S
CHIEF INFORMATION SECURITY OFFICER, STATE OF UTAH

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Transforming Asset, Service and Security Management
The Forescout platform is a unique, invaluable tool for bringing greater efficiency and accuracy to asset,
service and security solutions. It enables organizations to maintain an accurate view of network-connectedassets and provides the ability to track movement of devices and facilitate remediation actions against
noncompliant or compromised devices. By delivering in-depth asset visibility in real time, the Forescout
platform makes it possible to automate simple tasks and complex processes with policy-based precisionand control.
Forescout actively defends the Enterprise of Things by identifying, segmenting and enforcing complianceof every connected thing. The company helps more than 3,800 customers in over 90 countries* reducethe risk of business disruption from security incidents or breaches, ensure and demonstrate security
compliance and increase security operations productivity. Specifically, regarding security and asset/
systems management, the Forescout platform is delivering value through absolute device visibility and our
infrastructure-agnostic approach to asset discovery and automation. There is nothing else like it on themarket today.

*As of September 30, 2020
1. Gartner Research Note: Reduce Audit Costs and Risks With a Comprehensive IT Asset Management Strategy, April 2019

Don’t just see it.
Secure it.
TMContact us today to actively
defend your Enterprise of Things.

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Forescout Technologies, Inc.
190 W Tasman Dr.
San Jose, CA 95134 USA
Toll-Free (US) 1-866-377-8771
Tel (Intl) +1-408-213-3191
Support +1-708-237-6591

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Learn more at Forescout.com© 2020 Forescout Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Forescout Technologies, Inc. is a Delaware
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