#1 on the CIS security controls top 20 list is an “inventory and control of hardware assets.” Will refer to it as a hardware asset list for this post. While a lot of organizations do have a form of a hardware asset list, most lists are incomplete and missing simple items like keyboards and mice (more on that later). Of course there are some organizations that do not have a list at all. I’ll cover reasons why I think a hardware asset list is important for every organization to have as well as point out a few items that are often missing from hardware asset lists.