Asset Lifecycle Management
Tracking devices from procurement through decommission. End-of-life devices running unsupported firmware are a persistent vulnerability source in healthcare and manufacturing environments.
What is Asset Lifecycle Management?
Tracking devices from procurement through decommission. End-of-life devices running unsupported firmware are a persistent vulnerability source in healthcare and manufacturing environments.
Asset lifecycle management tracks devices from initial procurement through deployment, operation, maintenance, and eventual decommission. From a security perspective, the lifecycle is critical because risk changes at each stage: a newly deployed device has known firmware and configuration; a device in long-term operation may have drifted from its baseline, accumulated unpatched vulnerabilities, or reached end-of-life status where vendor support and patches are no longer available.
End-of-life (EoL) is the most significant lifecycle security event in IoT and OT environments. When a device reaches EoL, the manufacturer stops issuing security patches. In IT environments, organizations typically replace EoL devices within a year or two. In healthcare and manufacturing, the same device may remain in service for 10–20 years past its software EoL date because replacement requires procurement cycles, capital budgets, regulatory recertification, or operational downtime that organizations can't easily accommodate.
Security programs must account for EoL devices explicitly. An EoL device is not simply a device with unpatched vulnerabilities — it is a device that will never be patched, making compensating controls (segmentation, enhanced monitoring, access restriction) the permanent risk management strategy rather than a temporary workaround.
Key Facts
- Over 70% of medical devices in active hospital use are running software past its vendor support end date
- The average operational lifespan of an OT device is 15–25 years; most have 3–5 year software support windows
- EoL devices cannot receive security patches — compensating controls are the only risk reduction option
- CISA's OT security guidance specifically addresses the risk management of legacy and EoL devices
How ORDR Addresses Asset Lifecycle Management
ORDR tracks the lifecycle status of every discovered device, including firmware version, end-of-life dates, and vendor support status. Devices approaching or past their EoL date are flagged in the risk dashboard. For EoL devices that cannot be replaced, ORDR automatically generates compensating control recommendations — segmentation policies and enhanced monitoring profiles — to reduce their risk without requiring immediate replacement.
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ORDR gives security teams complete visibility into every connected asset—and the intelligence to act on what matters most.