As cyberattacks multiply and regulatory requirements tighten, cybersecurity has become a strategic priority for all organizations, both public and private.
With the entry into force of the European NIS2 Directive, the landscape has changed radically: companies and organizations must now have robust cyber governance, complete control over their digital assets, and the ability to respond effectively in the event of an incident.
But how can you be compliant if you don’t know exactly what your IT system consists of, or how applications, servers, data, and third-party providers interact?
This is where an IT system mapping tool comes in, now essential for NIS2 compliance. A simple inventory or static diagram is no longer enough: organizations need a dynamic, interconnected, and up-to-date view of their IT system.
Understanding NIS2: Stricter Requirements, Broader Scope
Adopted at the end of 2022 and applicable from October 2024, the NIS2 Directive (Network and Information Systems) aims to strengthen the cyber resilience of the European Union.
It replaces the first NIS Directive of 2016 and significantly expands its scope. Many sectors are now affected: healthcare, energy, transportation, public administration, digital services, waste management, critical infrastructure, and more.
Specifically, NIS2 requires essential and important entities to implement a set of cybersecurity measures covering prevention, detection, response, and resilience.
Organizations must, in particular:
- Conduct a documented and ongoing risk analysis, identifying all vulnerabilities, failure points, and possible incident scenarios.
- Secure supply chains and third-party providers, as an insecure third party can compromise the entire IT system.
- Promptly notify significant incidents to competent authorities, in France to ANSSI, with precise and traceable documentation.
- Demonstrate management’s involvement in cyber governance, with validated decisions, tracked action plans, and proof of compliance.
These obligations highlight that a clear and up-to-date IT system mapping is essential to manage risks and prepare for audits.
Why IT System Mapping Is at the Heart of NIS2 Compliance
Although the NIS2 Directive does not explicitly mandate “IT system mapping,” it makes the practice unavoidable.
Indeed, to meet its requirements, each organization must be able to demonstrate:
- Critical assets: applications, infrastructure, business processes, sensitive data…
Example: A hospital must identify all systems managing patient data, electronic prescription flows, and servers hosting critical medical databases. - Interconnections between assets: internal flows, exchanges with third parties, technical and functional dependencies.
Example: The failure of a cloud server affecting billing or appointment scheduling must be anticipated through flow mapping. - Risks associated with each component: vulnerabilities, failure points, exposure to threats.
Example: An outdated business application exposed to known vulnerabilities must be identified and documented. - Third-party providers involved in the IT system: hosting providers, integrators, cloud service suppliers, etc.
Example: A cloud provider hosting critical data must be identified, its flows documented, and security commitments verified.
IT system mapping therefore becomes the foundation of cyber risk management. It allows organizations to:
- Structure analyses by connecting different IT system layers (business, application, infrastructure).
- Understand incident impacts by visualizing all dependencies.
- Identify critical areas and prioritize actions.
- Justify security measures during audits.
In short, there can be no NIS2 compliance without full visibility of the IT system.
The Limitations of Manual Mapping
Many organizations still rely on inventories or technical diagrams created “by hand,” often in Excel, PowerPoint, or Visio. While these documents exist, they quickly show several limitations:
- Rapid obsolescence: Manual documents are rarely updated in real-time. As soon as an application changes, a server is added, or a provider modifies its environment, the diagram becomes incomplete or inaccurate.
- Lack of holistic view: Static tools cannot connect the different IT system layers (business, application, infrastructure) or show their dependencies.
- Collaboration challenges: Multiple teams cannot work simultaneously on the same document, leading to inconsistencies and duplicates.
- Audit complexity: During a NIS2 compliance audit, it is difficult to prove IT system control with scattered, outdated, or untraceable documents.
In practice, these limitations mean that during an audit, managers may be unable to demonstrate asset criticality or incident impacts, jeopardizing NIS2 compliance.
Why a Dedicated IT System Mapping Tool Is Essential
A dynamic, centralized IT system mapping tool effectively addresses the limitations of manual methods. It enables:
- Comprehensive multi-level visibility: The software models business processes, applications, data flows, infrastructure, and providers, showing their interactions and dependencies.
- Traceability and history tracking: Every change is recorded, every asset documented with attributes (criticality, owner, location, provider, risk level, etc.), essential for NIS2.
- Simplified risk analysis: Dependencies and vulnerabilities are visible, enabling prioritized security measures and incident anticipation.
- Customizable reports and views: For audits, governance meetings, or continuity plans, the repository can produce dashboards, PDFs, or usable exports.
- Enhanced collaboration:Technical, business, and security teams can work simultaneously on the same repository, ensuring data reliability and currency.
In short, a dedicated tool transforms IT system mapping into a living repository, key for reliable and sustainable NIS2 compliance.
What a Good IT System Mapping Tool Should Offer to Be “NIS2-Ready”
To be truly effective and NIS2-ready, IT system mapping software must go beyond producing attractive diagrams. It should meet functional and strategic requirements:
- Comprehensive multi-layer modeling: Representing IT systems from multiple angles: business, applications, data flows, infrastructure, providers, and external dependencies.
- Incident impact identification: The mapping should simulate scenarios and quickly assess the consequences of a failure or cyberattack.
- Complete asset documentation: Each element must include relevant attributes: criticality, owner, location, provider, associated risks.
- Custom views and reporting: Dashboards for audits, management, or continuity plans.
- History and traceability: Every change documented, ensuring a complete audit trail in line with NIS2.
- Multi-team collaboration: Allowing IT, security, and business teams to work together in real-time on the same repository.
- Actionable reports: Excel exports or interactive dashboards to simplify audits and decision-making.
The goal is to move from a fragmented view to a unified, updated, and manageable view of the IT system, a prerequisite for NIS2 compliance.
myCarto: A Solution Aligned with NIS2 Requirements
Developed by AB+ Software, myCarto is a comprehensive and agile IT system mapping tool designed to help organizations structure, analyze, and govern their digital assets.
A complete and dynamic IT system view
myCarto models all IT system components, including business processes, applications, infrastructure, flows, actors, and data. Each element is linked to others, providing a coherent and navigable system view.
Example: A hospital department can instantly visualize dependencies between patient management software, critical databases, and cloud providers.
A flexible metamodel
myCarto’s metamodel is configurable and adaptable to all organizations: local authorities, public institutions, private companies, or multinational groups.
This flexibility is valuable for NIS2, which requires documenting different levels of assets and relationships.
Collaborative governance
myCarto facilitates collaboration among technical, business, and security teams. Each user can enrich, comment, validate, or view the repository according to their rights, ensuring reliability and continuous data updates.
A valuable tool for NIS2 compliance
With its dynamic views and reporting capabilities, myCarto enables organizations to:
- Identify essential assets and critical flows
- Map IT providers and external dependencies
- Document impact scenarios in case of incidents
- Generate reports or dashboards for audits or compliance reviews
In other words, myCarto becomes the documentary and decision-making foundation for your NIS2 compliance efforts.
Concrete Benefits for Your Organization
Using an IT system mapping tool like myCarto allows you to:
- Gain visibility: Have a clear, up-to-date view of your application assets, flows, and dependencies.
- Strengthen risk management: Critical areas are identified and prioritized, facilitating the implementation of appropriate security measures.
- Accelerate incident response: In case of a cyberattack, you immediately know which applications or data are impacted.
- Simplify audits and compliance: Information is structured, documented, and easily exportable for authorities or auditors.
- Improve IT governance: Mapping becomes a strategic management tool for the IT department and executive management.
In short, myCarto helps shift from a reactive approach to a proactive posture, turning IT system mapping into a true lever for security, performance, and compliance.
How to Start an NIS2-Compliant IT System Mapping Initiative
Success relies on a progressive and pragmatic approach:
- Identify the priority scope: Start with essential services and critical applications.
- Involve the right stakeholders: Mapping is cross-functional, involving IT, security, business teams, and sometimes providers.
- Structure the data: Define the attributes and criticality criteria for each asset.
- Update regularly: NIS2 compliance is not a static state but a continuous process.
- Leverage the mapping: Use it for audits, risk analyses, continuity plans, or transformation projects.
Discover the full potential of IT system mapping with myCarto and prepare for NIS2 compliance today.
FAQ: NIS2 Directive and IT System Mapping
What is the NIS2 Directive?
The NIS2 Directive (Network and Information Systems) is a European regulation designed to strengthen the cybersecurity of information systems across all critical sectors. It expands the scope of NIS1, imposes strict governance requirements, and mandates the documentation and traceability of critical assets.
Who is affected by NIS2?
The NIS2 Directive (Network and Information Systems) is a European regulation designed to strengthen the cybersecurity of information systems across all critical sectors. It expands the scope of NIS1, imposes strict governance requirements, and mandates the documentation and traceability of critical assets.
Is IT system mapping mandatory for NIS2?
Yes, it is mandatory. IT system mapping is the first technical measure to implement: it allows you to inventory and structure all assets, applications, data flows, infrastructures, and service providers. Without this complete and up-to-date repository, no organization can demonstrate compliance with NIS2.
How does a tool like myCarto help with NIS2 compliance?
myCarto centralizes and logs all assets, flows, and service providers, enables you to visualize dependencies, and generates actionable reports for audits, risk analyses, and governance. It turns IT system mapping into a living, dynamic repository, essential for NIS2 compliance.
What are the main benefits for IT departments and governance?
Equipping yourself with an IT system mapping tool like myCarto provides several concrete benefits:
- Improved visibility across the entire information system
- Reduced risks, thanks to the identification and prioritization of critical areas
- Greater responsiveness in the event of an incident, through clear visualization of flows and dependencies
- Simplified audits and reporting, with structured, exportable data
- Strengthened IT governance, turning system mapping into a strategic lever for the IT department and executive management
Conclusion
In the face of the growing demands of the NIS2 directive, organizations must strengthen their digital resilience and their ability to demonstrate full control over their information systems.
IT system mapping has become a central tool: it provides the visibility, traceability, and understanding needed to manage security and prove compliance.
Equipping your organization with a dedicated mapping tool like myCarto is not just a response to NIS2 — it is a strategic investment in your organization’s governance and cybersecurity.
