The security for today’s information systems go much beyond the general protection measures that were usually considered to provide sufficient security against intrusion. Security is considered to be one of the top mist priorities for those companies implementing the latest technologies. A company’s infrastructure can be defined by a number of aspects among which patch management plays a crucial role.
Patching involves repairing system vulnerabilities which are identified after the infrastructure components have been released into the market. Patches apply to different parts of an information system which includes routers, desktops, operating systems, servers, office suites, mobile devices, firewalls, email clients, and several other components that are present within the network infrastructure.
Patch management has become a growing necessity and a vital component for all business operations, however, it also tends to be treated as a responsibility of the IT department. While this is treated to be partially true, patch management existing inside an organization’s infrastructure can be successful only with the support and understanding of the senior management.
It is important to implement and plan for patch management in advance instead of waiting for the issue to be addressed when a problem occurs. A number of companies are concerned about the number of patches and the manpower needed to deploy them. However, the latest technologies incorporated with enterprises offering patch management services have succeeded in making patch management implementation and distribution more cost-effective and easier.
Thus, a solid patch management is needed to handle different vulnerabilities and constantly monitor a network. This permits instant action to be taken if a patch has yet to be released when a vulnerability is discovered. The focus here is on the prevention of a Zero Day Attack, which is an exploit that can take place while a patch is in the process of being produced in order to repair the vulnerability. Such attacks can be minor or they can be as malicious as taking down a company’s entire network.