Asset owner

The asset owner is the person, usually a manager in the business area that depends on the asset, who is accountable for it from acquisition to disposal. The owner confirms the asset’s classification, approves its use, makes sure the required controls are in place and reviewed, and decides on its retention and retirement. The ISC2 outline lists information and asset ownership under objective 2.3, and ISO/IEC 27002 guidance on the asset inventory expects an owner to be identified for each asset.

Ownership here means accountability, not legal title or technical skill. Day-to-day operation is commonly handed to a data custodian or an operations team, while the owner stays accountable for the outcome. The role is the asset counterpart of the data owner, who is accountable for information rather than for the things that hold it, and it overlaps with the system owner when the asset is an information system.

Exam relevance: questions in this area tend to turn on accountable versus responsible. If a scenario asks who approves use of an asset or accepts its residual risk, the owner is the likely answer; if it describes someone running or maintaining the asset, that is a custodian or operator. Each entry in the asset inventory is expected to name an owner.