Patch Operating Systems
What is Patching and how does it work?
Operating System (OS) patching is critical to keeping IT Systems and applications safe from malicious users, intent on exploiting vulnerabilities within the Operating Systems of an organisation’s IT services.
Operating System providers invest considerable effort into identifying and patching vulnerabilities within their operating systems, providing patches or updates to fix these security-related issues.
The tools and techniques used to patch operating systems vary and are dependent on each organisation’s specific business needs and the operating systems in use.
Why is patching applications important?
One in three data security breaches are caused by unpatched vulnerabilities.
Patch management is an important part of maintaining a secure ICT environment. Patching tasks may include:
- Maintaining current knowledge of available patches; and deciding what patches are appropriate for particular systems.
- Ensuring that patches are installed properly and testing systems after installation.
- Documenting all associated procedures and specific configurations.
The ACSC has also put in place the following recommendations for organisations:
- Patching is completed in line with a well-defined scheduled process with a minimum monthly release cycle.
- All critical security patches deploy within 48hrs of release.
- Use only supported operating systems within your environment and replace unsupported operating systems.
- Scanning of endpoints for missing patches is based on a predefined schedule.
Introspectus Key Features
What's the solution?
Introspectus helps organisations to maintain control over IT security patching of their business environment. We do this by:
- Performing a patch scan of all endpoints on a predefined schedule, identifying: patches with a Security ID that are missing; details of missing patches per device; the average number of missing patches; and a list of missing patches across the environment.
- Keeping a list of excluded patches and the reason that these patches have not been deployed.
- Generating real-time reports of patching effectiveness that confirm patches have been deployed to all endpoints; and identify how long it takes devices to patch.
Automated Daily Tests
Introspectus performs daily tests on each endpoint to provide organisations with confidence that their patching regime is effective.
Device Audit Report
Introspectus reports confirm that patches have been deployed to all endpoints and identify details of missing patches.
Real-Time Reporting
Introspectus lets organisations confidently report to their management/board that their patching regime is operating efficiently.
