“Why is Microsoft paying hackers?” You might ask. Microsoft pays hackers to discover and assess vulnerabilities in its products. This is a great way for Microsoft to improve the security of their products. But this is also a reminder that these products do not come to us perfect and require constant updating to remain as secure.
When Microsoft discovers a vulnerability in one of their products they create an update called a patch. The aim of the patch is to reduce the vulnerability’s impact on the system or to remove it entirely. As many of you might know, updates can sometimes have unintended consequences that can lead to downtime.
That’s where patch management comes in. Patch Management is a process by which we can ensure good patches get applied and potentials disruptive patches don’t. This technology also helps us schedule patches outside business hours, however Microsoft has been making increasing difficult to do in recent years.
The basis for most of your security concerns is your operating system, and that is more than likely Microsoft Windows. Let this be a reminder to do your Windows updates. Restart that computer. And when we’re dealing with many computers, it’s best that patch management is used to ensure the right updates get applied to the right computers at the right time.
At Engler IT we take security very seriously, and we leverage patch management to make sure our client’s systems always stay secure.
