Closing The Door On Cybercriminals Best: Practices For Patch Management

Simply put, the bad guys are constantly searching for any possible point of entry that can be exploited by viruses and malware.

It’s no secret that today’s security environment is more dangerous and dynamic than ever before. The sheer quantity and frequency of new threats that confronts IT professionals is daunting, as cybercriminals relentlessly probe for weaknesses and vulnerabilities in an organization’s network. What’s more, the rising number of end users who work remotely and/or use mobile devices makes cyberattacks on endpoints outside of the network increasingly attractive to criminals.

Simply put, the bad guys are constantly searching for any possible point of entry that can be exploited by viruses and malware. The ease and speed with which criminals now develop new threats means that virtually any application can be quickly targeted. It isn’t just widely-used software solutions under attack anymore, as even relatively obscure applications and vulnerabilities are being pursued.

This heightened threat environment puts additional pressure on you to implement a comprehensive security strategy that ensures servers and endpoints don’t present windows of opportunity for a security breach, no matter how temporary or seemingly innocuous those opportunities may be. Deploying a superior endpoint protection solution is obviously key, but one of the most overlooked components of an effective security strategy is patch management.

Patch management has become increasingly important because cybercriminals are constantly  discovering new vulnerabilities, which forces software vendors to then respond with frequent and irregularly-scheduled patches that remove those vulnerabilities. The more quickly and efficiently you can deploy those patches, the sooner you will neutralize significant security threats.

As such, it’s useful for you to review the following list of patch management best practices, which will help you formulate a cohesive patch management strategy that can maximize network security and prevent disruptions to operational efficiency and productivity.