From Log4Shell to remote workforce vulnerabilities — why timely updates and automated patching are critical for cybersecurity resilience.
By definition, a patch is a set of changes to a computer program or its supporting data designed to update or improve it. Significantly, patches have become synonymous with fixing security vulnerabilities and other “bugs”.
Patch management is the process of overseeing the systematic deployment of these updates and fixes in order to correct errors or improve the cybersecurity associated with operating systems, software applications and embedded systems.
The goal of a comprehensive patch management policy is to help protect every asset within your environment, irrespective of category, from exploitation.
With the recent and ongoing increases in the discovery of malware and other high-risk vulnerabilities in many computer systems, a comprehensive patch management policy is now essential to ensure that new patches are deployed as soon as they become available.
Such a policy should be able to identify the most critical challenges facing your security team – challenges that need to be addressed as a matter of urgency – and differentiate them from tasks that should be evaluated as part of your long-term strategy.
Without a comprehensive patch management policy in place, there is a strong chance that you could “shut the stable door after the horse has bolted”. In other words, a patch or update may well be applied too late to prevent a virulent bug from infiltrating your systems, stealing confidential data or inflicting severe damage.
The recent Log4Shell bug represents a case in point. Unfortunately, the vulnerability was revealed before a patch was made available so there was little that could be done by security managers and IT staff other than slog through the Log4Shell vulnerability patching process “after the fact”.
Fortunately, Cyber Insight was one of the first companies to offer a free vulnerability scan specific to Log4Shell which proved to be of great assistance to many IT specialists who were able to return to their festive celebrations without too much delay, secure in the knowledge that any possible security holes were covered and the hackers were being kept at bay.
Nevertheless, events such as the arrival of Log4Shell have highlighted the importance of maintaining an up-to-date software inventory to assist with the management of software updates and patches.
A comprehensive, fully automated patch management policy should also incorporate the management of software licences for third-party applications in Microsoft’s 365 Admin Centre. This process should include subscription management as well as the supervision of routine invoicing and payment procedures. Nothing should be overlooked or “allowed to fall through the cracks”.
Such a policy ought to also apply to software-as-a-service apps that you may purchase directly and, where appropriate, cover app and subscription management through third-party app providers’ portals.
With the concept of the remote workforce expected to gain broad acceptance in 2022, it is necessary to keep corporate endpoints secure thereby ensuring employees’ protection from the latest vulnerabilities no matter where they are located.
With legacy on-premises security systems often struggling to cope with the work-from-home boom, a comprehensive patch management policy is increasingly necessary to handle the patching and configuring of remote systems at scale and orchestrate feature/functionality updates.
Such a policy, well implemented, will help all workers gain access to the latest, most secure software products and computer systems currently available thereby maximising efficiency and optimising productivity.
