Patch management is the practice of reviewing, understanding, testing, deploying and reconciling the deployment state for software product updates. The goal of the updates is to correct problems, close vulnerabilities and improve product functionality, which is essential to the stability of an IT infrastructure in most environments. By understanding the different kinds of patches and following best practices, an IT service provider can keep clients' critical systems free from known vulnerabilities.
Patch management is probably the biggest concern of IT service providers and their clients these days. With new vulnerabilities being discovered almost daily, keeping systems up to date with patches is often a full-time job, especially in larger environments. In addition, the lag time between when a vulnerability is discovered and when a virus or worm appears is now measured in days or weeks rather than months. This puts tremendous pressure on vendors to release patches before they've been fully regression-tested. The result is that oftentimes, patches fix the problem they're designed to address, but unintentionally break something else in the process.
Most IT service providers pay attention to security and patching their clients' systems, but how many have a well-honed patch management policy? Patch management is often seen as a trivial task. Simply click on 'update' and that's it. But, in reality, there is a lot more to it and a proper policy is certainly not overkill. But, what should a patch management policy include, apart from deploying patches? This eBook explains how to implement patch management policies, processes and persistence. Plus, gain valuable patching resources and tools.
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