Heimdal Security Blog

The 7 Key Steps of the Effective Patch Management Process

  • Livia Gyongyoși

    • patch management process

    In January 2024, the National Vulnerability Database received over 1,830 new CVEs. That added up to the other already registered 234,632.

    Security Officers in charge of closing vulnerabilities face two main challenges:

    Let’s see how you can set up a smart and fast patch management process.

    Key takeaways:

    The 7 key steps of the patch management process

    To make patching an easier task for your security team, set a clear patch management policy. Then create an effective patch management process. Make it clear which member of the IT staff is responsible for which step of the process.

    Here are the 7 key steps a patch management process should include:

    Asset inventory

    Make sure you know what you need to protect before you get to work.

    The first step of a successful patch management process is a thorough inventory of all potentially exposed assets.

    The inventory list should include:

    Asset inventory – See all software in the Heimdal Dashboard

    Internet-facing assets pose the highest risk of becoming a target for hackers.

    Now it’s the moment to create device groups based on operating systems and critical status.

    Vulnerability assessment

    All software has flaws.

    Yes, even MacOS has exploitable vulnerabilities, so you should patch MacOS devices too.

    Vendors like Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Atlassian, etc. regularly release patches for known vulnerabilities.

    Keep an eye on new releases and track the old known vulnerabilities. Search for missing patches. Use vulnerability management tools to detect vulnerabilities in your system.

    Patch prioritization

    Take your time to prioritize patches. Not all vulnerabilities are equally threatening and not all devices are equally exposed.

    There are so many known flaws that there’s not enough time or workforce to patch everything.

    You’ll have to choose. Here are three elements you should base your choice on:

    Patch testing

    Get the patches you need from the vendor. Test them in a controlled environment before going live. Document both the testing process and its results.

    Check how your devices, software versions, and overall system will react to the updates. Operating system or software updates can make them run slow, block, overlook safety measures, etc.

    You should always have a backup to revert to in case things go wrong.

    Testing can seem like a tedious task that slows down the patching process, but it pays off.

    Here are some of the patch testing benefits:

    Scheduling

    Keep workflow smooth by scheduling patch deployment at a convenient time for your organization. Based on the company’s specific and day-to-day tasks, assess when the best time is to update software. If your company activates in the educational sector, for example, the best time for patching might be in the evening or during weekends. Take time to observe when the devices in your system are less used.

    Communicate with the company’s employees so they understand why patching is important and should be a priority.

    If your organization is medium to large, my recommendation is to go for an automated patch management tool.

    Best patch management solutions come with the possibility to schedule patching at your own pace.

    Deployment

    Prepare the deployment package that will get the patch from the IT admin to the company’s computers. This package is also known as a group policy object and includes:

    Professional, automated patch management tools can also help with this step.

    In a hybrid work environment, you need to be able to safely apply patches remotely. If you patch manually, you’ll need to write scripts for the deployment package every time you patch.

    Additionally, you’ll only be able to patch office-located devices. You’ll have to postpone deploying patches on devices that belong to people who work remote or are on leave. This is good news for the hackers since you’ll be slower to close a known vulnerability.

    Monitoring results and reporting

    The last step of the patch management process is to monitor, check the results, and document everything for the record.

    Were there any patch failures or rollbacks? What caused that? What was the impact of patch failures on the company’s operations? Take the necessary steps to remediate the issue and apply patches.

    Documenting how the patch deployment step succeeded or failed is useful intelligence for future diagnosis. You can also use it in incident response, and compliance reports.

    What makes the patch management process challenging?

    Here are some aspects that will give you and your team a hard time if you patch manually:

    Prioritizing patches

    Deciding which patch to test and deploy first can be stressful.

    Managing patches for different OSes

    Lots of companies use different OSes for different departments. IT teams could work on Linux, Accounts on Windows, and Marketing on MacOS, for example.

    Maintaining visibility and control over assets

    Moving to a hybrid or remote work environment brings a lack of visibility and control. BYOD work policies also complicate endpoint security.

    Patching third-party apps

    Third-party software includes apps like Adobe, Google Chrome, Zoom, TeamViewer, etc. Each third-party app you install on the company’s endpoints expands the overall attack surface. Why? Because all software has vulnerabilities.

    Talent shortage

    People in the IT or Security teams are usually highly qualified. Having enough hands on the deck to cover the patching process properly depends on the company’s budget and the available workforce.

    Proper patch management is not enough to keep the IT infrastructure safe. Integrating it with other tools, like Endpoint Detection and Response or DNS security, increases safety and incident response efficiency.

    That’s why the trend in cybersecurity is to use unified platforms, that integrate and automate processes. Heimdal’s MXDR suite, for example, comes with integrated vulnerability management, patching included.

    Automate your patch management routine.

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    How to keep patch management simple and effective

    Patching is a tedious task, if done manually. Additionally, things can easily go wrong if the ones in charge with patching don’t follow a clear policy.

    You might overlook patching legacy software. When in a rush, you might feel tempted to skip testing. Not testing a patch or update before deployment can bring new bugs, impact performance and even data loss. Also, check patch status after deployment. Undetected patch failure leaves the system open to vulnerabilities and security risks.

    Automating the patch management process solves most of the patching challenges. It makes things happen clear and fast.

    Patch flow for Windows updates with Heimdal

    Heimdal’s patch management software helps the IT team keep it all on the green:

    in a few clicks and remotely. Try it here, for free.

    The tool solves patching for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. All you need to do is set some operating system specific groups at the beginning and you’re good to go. There’s no need to spend the budget on various tools to patch a diverse IT infrastructure.

    Deploy patches in different OSes with Heimdal

    Conclusion

    As businesses develop, the need for using a variety of apps increases. That grows exposure which can bring more opportunities for hackers, and more work for Security Officers.

    Patching all critical assets to close high-severity vulnerabilities is possible. Use an automated patch management solution that brings all Oses under the same umbrella. Choose a tool that integrates into a unified security platform so you can view and control all processes from the same dashboard.

    Automating redundant tasks and increasing visibility over all assets will take pressure off the security team and the budget.

    FAQs

    Why is patch management important?

    Patch management keeps attackers away by closing known vulnerabilities.

    All software, starting with operating systems, device drivers, third-party apps, up to middleware, and industrial control systems have flaws.

    So, hackers can exploit them for system breaches and, consequently, data breaches.

    What are the three types of patches?

    Security patches, bug fixes, and feature updates are the most common types of patches. Applying them:

    What are 5 patch management best practices?

     

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