Security Patch Management Software
Action1 helps IT administrators efficiently perform the tasks involved in security patch management, including identifying, approving, testing, and deploying patches to the entire fleet of remote and in-office endpoints simultaneously.
Be it a desktop computer, laptop, server, or other network device — Action1’s cloud-based security patch management software mitigates vulnerabilities even if a computer is not connected to the corporate LAN.
What is Security Patch Deployment and Management?
Patch management is the process of keeping all your software and operating systems up to date. Regular deployment of patches is necessary to fix vulnerabilities that have been identified in software or OS before they can be exploited by cybercriminals. By applying these patches promptly and reliably, you can dramatically reduce the risk of your endpoints being used to breach cybersecurity by malicious actors.
What commonly requires updates includes operating systems (such as Windows, Mac, and Linux), software applications your business uses (such as accounting or project management applications), and firmware for network devices (including printers and scanners).
Defining and enforcing a patch management policy helps ensure the patch deployment job gets done right and with no delays. It provides a set of procedures and rules for IT teams to follow to keep all enterprise software and OS up to date with the latest or most relevant patches and updates.
Why Organization Need Security Patch Management Process?
There are a few key reasons why IT security patch management is essential for your business:
Improve cybersecurity
Endpoint security patch management is designed to fix vulnerabilities in your software applications and operating systems that make them susceptible to cyberattacks. It helps to reduce security risks for your organization and the associated cost burdens of mitigating a cybersecurity breach.
Ensure compliance
With the threat of cyberattacks constantly on the rise, various regulatory bodies including GDPR, NIST, PCI, etc. require organizations to implement various cybersecurity best practices, including reliable computer security patch management and server security patch management.
Gain new and improved functionality
Not all patches are designed to address bugs or vulnerabilities; some patches update an application’s features or add new functionality. So, patch management is essential if you want to ensure your business has access to new features that a product has to offer.
Increase IT efficiency
Through automation of patch deployment routines with security patch management programs, IT teams and MSP businesses can increase task delivery and accomplish more in less time.
How Does the Action1 Security Patch Management and Security Utility Work
With Action1’s cloud patch management software requires minimal onboarding and can be set up and running in minutes. Leverage all the benefits of patch management automation without any of the hassles associated with on-premise legacy patching solutions such as Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
The Action1 security patch management program allows to control and automate every stage of the patch management cycle:
Scan endpoints for missing patches
Identify missing patches on endpoints automatically. You can schedule the scans by time, device type, installed software, operating system, user groups, and more.
Centralize patching routines and tools
Action1’s central server automatically downloads 3rd party software patches from the vendors listed in Action App Store and flags endpoints with missing updates. Besides, Action1 allows to upload of custom software packages and updates for further distribution and to install Windows updates remotely — all from a single web-based console.
Configure patch deployment policies
Automatically deploy missing patches to all vulnerable devices in your network, with no manual intervention needed. Easily set up patch deployment policies to control the approval process, installation schedules, rebooting, patch reporting, and more.
Plan the delivery schedules
Avoid downtime for users by scheduling patch deployment for the days and times that work best for your teams.
With Action1, we are able to support, manage and patch our endpoints no matter where we are, via any device that has a browser. It is a brilliant product that helps us achieve all we wanted in a very cost-effective way.
Best Practices for Security Patch Management
Keeping your OS and software up to date is one of the primary security measures for preventing cyberattacks on your network. However, organizations today often have multiple operating systems, fast-growing remote workforces, and dozens of software applications in use, so they often struggle to prevent vulnerability exploitation through patching in a timely manner.
By implementing the following best practices, you can ensure security patch management control and dramatically reduce your attack surface area.
With reliable patch management and security utility software and the following set of best practices in place, you can ensure a better strategy for your endpoint hardening and lower your attack surface.
1. Maintain an accurate software and hardware inventory
Put together an inventory of every single IT asset your organization uses, including employee devices if you have a BYOD (bring your own device) policy in place. Organize your software asset inventory according to type of device, operating system and OS version, third-party applications, and hardware. Regularly update the inventory to ensure it remains complete and accurate.
2. Stay up to date on vendor security updates
Security researchers in software development companies are constantly evaluating their software for vulnerabilities and providing patches or hotfixes to remediation of bugs and flaws. Stay informed by keeping up with the monthly Patch Tuesday, when Microsoft releases patches for all its software products, and other software vendors.
3. Patch both applications and operating systems
Third-party applications vendors often release two or three small patches in the time it takes Microsoft to release just one major patch. So, ensure that your patching routine includes deploying both third-party and firmware patches promptly; don’t wait for operating systems updates to be released.
4. Develop a patch management policy
It isn’t smart or efficient to deploy patches in no specific order or one by one. Instead, create a patch policy that meets your organization’s needs. First, automate scanning of your devices for vulnerabilities and missing updates on an appropriate schedule. Then categorize available patches based on update severity, device, application, OS type, and user group. The final step is to prioritize critical security patches over simple bug fixes or feature updates, and systematically deploy your patches.
4. Develop a patch management policy
It isn’t smart or efficient to deploy patches in no specific order or one by one. Instead, create a patch policy that meets your organization’s needs. First, automate scanning of your devices for vulnerabilities and missing updates on an appropriate schedule. Then categorize available patches based on update severity, device, application, OS type, and user group. The final step is to prioritize critical security patches over simple bug fixes or feature updates, and systematically deploy your patches.
5. Maximize deployment speed
It takes an average of 12 days to deploy a critical security patch — plenty of time for malicious actors to exploit the underlying vulnerability. By deploying critical security patches as quickly as possible, you can dramatically reduce your security risks.
6. Centralize and automate patch management
Too many companies leave the responsibility of patching vulnerabilities up to individual departments or even individual users. This disjointed effort involving different tools often leads to missing updates and data breaches. It is smarter to centralize your patch management with a comprehensive patch management system that supports all the operating systems and third-party applications being used in your organization.
7. Ensure you have a rollback plan in place
You should test patches before deployment, but sometimes a patch can prove to be incompatible with some devices. To minimize costly downtime, you need to have a rollback plan that ensures you can quickly restore your software to the previous stable version. Some patching tools have a built-in rollback feature that requires just a simple click of a button.
9. Implement a comprehensive risk mitigation strategy
By enabling you to remediate software vulnerabilities, patch management is critical to reducing risk. But it is just one part of risk management. Be sure to develop a comprehensive risk assessment and mitigation program that also includes open ports, faulty registry settings, incorrect system configurations, and other vulnerabilities.
Patch Management That Just Works
Discover, prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities in a single solution
to prevent security breaches and ransomware attacks.