Patch management is all about helping organizations manage the process of patching software and applications. It encompasses functions such as testing patches, prioritizing them, deploying them, verifying that they are installed in all endpoints, and in general looking after every aspect of patching.
But patching can be a time-consuming – and ineffective – task. There are so many patches being issued to address so many vulnerabilities that it is easy to fall behind. There are more than 20,000 new vulnerabilities identified every year – yet the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) is tracking only about 800 total as actively exploited. That doesn’t mean the rest should be ignored, but it does mean that the actively exploited ones should be prioritized.
Even that isn’t easy, as many organizations aren’t aware of everything they own that needs patching, making IT asset management (ITAM) an increasingly important security tool, as well as a feature of many vulnerability management services.
Because of all those challenges, managed security service providers (MSSPs) and patch and vulnerability management vendors have begun to offer services that…
