Although the application of software patches is a relatively simple task, today we see a series of tips to speed up the process of applying software security patches in your company as it is an increasingly critical key to defend against breaches of security produced by hackers “armed” with vulnerability scanners. Unfortunately, it is also a procedure that normally receives little attention, in part due to the overhead of time it takes to install patches properly.

Carry out proper asset management since unknown or “lost” assets will never be patched, it follows that proper asset management is the first step towards efficient and rapid patch management. As businesses grow over time , older equipment will eventually be upgraded or replaced. This can range from an asset management tool to automatically enumerate devices on the network, to an inventory control system, or using other procedures to track your assets. For the best choice you can visit https://www.action1.com/p/Free-Patch-Management-pm.html.

Check for expired licenses

As more software products come configured for automatic patching, it has become easier for administrators to be lured into a false sense of security. As such, SMEs would do well to carry out regular checks on expired licenses.
Implement solutions to minimize downtime as many software patches require a system reboot which, while acceptable for workstations, may not be tolerable for server applications. One way to mitigate this problem is to make use of third-party solutions for high availability computing that can be used here to eliminate or reduce downtime caused when the system reboots.

Virtualization is a solution that comes to mind, because when applied properly it allows you to install patches to be installed and tested without worrying about downtime. 

How is the application of security patches carried out in your company?

The security patches solve security holes and, whenever possible, do not change the functionality of the program; they are especially frequent in applications that interact with the Internet.

The vulnerabilities that frequently appear in Microsoft operating systems represent a real threat to the proper functioning of computers, since they are victims of attacks by malicious code, which will guarantee the simplified management of patches developed by malicious specialists. To seal these vulnerabilities, Microsoft periodically publishes patches that correct them on the Internet.

Security patch

In Cuba, to solve this problem of such importance in the stability of Microsoft’s operating systems, the Cuban Segurmatica Company provides the patching service by installing a WSUS server in the entities that require it and request it, which will guarantee the administration simplified patching. However, although many entities already use this server to solve this problem, there are still difficulties for those institutions where the assigned bandwidth and the time assigned for downloads do not allow them to maintain the updates of said patches, resulting in the maintenance some vulnerability in the latent network.For this reason, the expectation is that the possible solution to this vulnerability is the migration to the GNU / LINUX operating system , which would help by being a more secure and reliable system.

Joyce Laroche