Today, more and more companies rely on their information technology infrastructure to improve their business, save money and increase profitability. The threat of malicious worm and virus attacks has been on the rise, forcing businesses to re-investigate their security needs to better protect their environment. Research has shown that the most efficient way to protect against attacks is to ensure that all machines in your environment have the latest patches installed. If one computer in the environment is not patched, it can threaten the stability of the entire environment and possibly inhibit normal functionality.
Patch management is an area that many IT organizations struggle with. Operating system vendors have done a good job of providing easy patching solutions for their products, but there are so many third-party applications to patch that it can become an impossible task. With new vulnerabilities being announced every week, keeping up with all the patches is a problem in itself, and even if it’s handled in bursts, you may still have long stretches of time where your network is vulnerable. A good patch management solution can fix this problem.
Because it is necessary?
As soon as software or an operating system is released, there are hackers looking for holes and vulnerabilities to let them in. Sometimes patches are released because unfortunately the hackers managed to identify and then exploit the weakness, so the vendor comes back and patches them to turn them off. In order cases, the vendors themselves first find the flaws and then issue the patch that is needed to fix it. Or possibly it’s just to strengthen general security because they found a better way to do it.
Here are some other reasons why you need good patch management:
- Compliance
Whether it’s internal policies or external requirements like PCI, a good patch management solution makes compliance easy, ensuring all systems stay up to date.
- Reports
Good patch management applications provide robust reporting, so you know at any time what your security posture is and the status of any system.
- Compatibility
Many companies find that their networks are no longer in a compliant state if they fall too far behind on patch and service packs. A good patch management solution helps ensure this doesn’t happen to you.
- Scanning and fixing vulnerabilities
One of the most important reasons to have patch management is to keep up with security updates. Good patch management applications can search for and report vulnerabilities. Administrators will then be able to test these patches and push updates quickly.
- Third Party Patching
One of the main challenges for IT departments is how to patch third-party applications on their systems. Patch management applications can handle third-party applications just as easily as operating systems.
It exists to protect networks and business systems from these ever-present cyber threats. In specific terms, it is a good practice to protect your data and avoid attacks that can be very costly for any company.