In IT, doing the correct patching is necessary if you are to avoid breaches of your security, but even though it is a necessary part of doing business, some companies still prefer to let the breach occur and then fix it after. This doesn’t make any sense as surely it is better to stop it from happening before it does. However, many people don’t put in place the proper security patches because it is quite difficult to do, even if you have the necessary software.
In any given IT system, there are multiple software and applications all running at the same time. Ensuring that they are all running correctly means having to employ someone to do that specific task and that costs money and time. This is time they feel is better spent on their business and not on IT issues. What they desperately need is the option of patch management software but one that doesn’t cost too much and is easy to put in place.
In order to get a patch management tool to assist with your issues, you must have an effective patch management strategy in place and the strategy should allow for the following:
- The Clear Scope Of The Patch – The first step is to do an inventory of your assets. You need to be able to keep track of the assets within your business, in order for the patch management system to be able to apply and then maintain, their respective security patches. Your asset inventory needs to be fool proof if your patch management strategy is to work.
- Assess And Prioritise The Security Risks – Security patches can be of two types. The first is the critical ones and the others, the not so critical. If you complete a security risk assessment and then put in place what is a priority and what is not, you should be able to put security patches in place straight away without any unnecessary delays.
- Able To Creat Rollback Options – The rollback allows you to go back and revert to your old security patches if the current one in place, is not doing what it is supposed to be doing. If you have a patch management strategy in place then this should be relatively easy to do, and it should be a necessary part of your patch management strategy.
- Allows For Full Automation – Putting security patches in place is not easy and it can’t be done unless there is automation in place. Every day, typical tasks need to be automated and only the critical, can’t be ignored tasks need to be put in place with the use of manual operation. There is no point in assigning someone to complete everyday mundane tasks that the system can do itself. It is a waste of worker time and energy and should be left up to the automation system.
Patch management and patch management software is essential if your IT system is to run without any issues or problems. Look into some patch management software today and see how it can improve your business.
