In this blog, we’ll explore the concept of “update rings,” their significance and how Kaseya VSA can streamline the process by utilizing isolated sites for testing updates. We’ll also discuss the necessity of a testing environment and how they aid in QA testing, ensuring your systems are always in top shape. 

What Are Update Rings? 

Update rings are a strategy designed to manage the deployment of updates within an organization. By categorizing devices into different groups that receive updates at staggered intervals, you can control the rollout process more effectively. This method allows IT administrators to ensure updates are thoroughly tested before being widely deployed across all systems. 

Why Are Update Rings Important? 

Minimized Risk 

Deploying updates to a small group of devices first allows you to identify and resolve issues before they affect your entire organization. This controlled approach minimizes the risk of widespread disruptions and ensures a more stable IT environment. 

Controlled Rollout 

Staggering updates prevent widespread disruption, enabling IT administrators to manage the process more effectively. By controlling the rollout, you can ensure each group of devices receives the necessary attention, reducing the chances of encountering significant issues. 

Improved Stability 

Early identification of potential issues ensures that only stable updates reach your critical systems. This proactive approach helps maintain the overall stability of your IT environment, preventing unexpected downtimes and performance issues. 

Time Between Update Deployments  

By staggering updates to each ring, you can control the impact of corrupted updates. However, its key to find the balance between enough time between each ring to catch problems and not too much time so that endpoints in the outer rings are without key updates.  

Example of Update Ring Structure

1. Test Ring 

The first ring where updates are deployed. This ring is typically composed of a small group of endpoints in a test lab so that IT professionals or advanced users can thoroughly test the updates in a controlled environment before they are released to a broader audience.  

2. Pilot Ring 

After successful testing in the Test Ring, the updates are deployed to a small group of advanced users machines, often referred to as early adopters or a pilot group. These users help to further test the updates in a more diverse but still controlled environment. 

3. Targeted Ring 

Once the updates have passed the Pilot Ring testing, they are deployed to an even larger group of users, known as the targeted audience. This group is typically more representative of the general user base. 

4. Broad Ring 

The final ring involves deploying the updates to the entire organization. By this stage, the updates should be stable and any significant issues should have been resolved. 

Why You Need a Testing Environment in Your Update Rings 

A testing lab simulates your production environment, allowing you to test updates in a controlled setting. This approach helps identify potential issues without impacting live systems, ensuring your updates are safe and effective before deployment. 

Benefits of a Testing Lab 

Risk Mitigation 

Testing updates in a lab environment significantly minimizes the risk of deploying faulty updates across your entire IT infrastructure. By identifying issues early in the testing phase, you can prevent significant disruptions that could impact your business operations. For example, a new software patch might have compatibility issues with certain applications or cause unforeseen bugs. Catching these problems in a lab setting allows you to address them before they reach your production environment, ensuring a smooth operation and reducing the potential for costly downtime or data loss. 

Replication 

One of the key benefits of a testing lab is its ability to replicate your production environment. This means you can create a mirror image of your actual IT setup, complete with the same hardware, software and network configurations. By doing so, you can conduct tests in conditions that are highly relevant and reflective of real-world scenarios. This replication ensures that the results you obtain during testing are accurate and applicable, giving you confidence that the updates will perform as expected when deployed to your live environment. It also allows for more precise troubleshooting and fine-tuning of updates before they go live. 

Compliance 

In today’s regulatory landscape, ensuring that your IT systems comply with organizational policies and industry standards is crucial. A testing lab provides a controlled environment where you can thoroughly vet updates to ensure they meet all necessary compliance requirements. Whether it’s adhering to data protection regulations, industry-specific standards, or internal security policies, a testing lab allows you to verify that all updates align with these criteria. This proactive approach helps in avoiding compliance violations, which can lead to fines, legal issues, or damage to your organization’s reputation. 

By integrating a testing lab into your update rings strategy, your IT team can ensure updates are reliable, relevant and compliant before they reach your production systems. This approach not only enhances the stability and security of your IT environment but also provides peace of mind, knowing that your updates have been rigorously tested and vetted. 

How Kaseya VSA Facilitates Helps QA Testing 

Kaseya VSA simplifies the QA testing process through several key features designed to make your update management more efficient and reliable. 

Isolated Sites 

Using sites within VSA enables you to roll out updates to different levels and environments at different times. You can leverage this site function to work as part of leveled update rings to ensure you roll out updates to small parts at a time. This prevents potential disruptions in the live environment, ensuring that any issues are contained and addressed before widespread deployment. 

Detailed Reporting 

VSA provides comprehensive reports on the performance and stability of updates. These reports aid in informed decision-making, allowing you to track the success of updates and identify any areas that need improvement. 

Patch Rollback Options 

If an update causes issues, VSA offers easy patch rollback options to restore systems to remove patches. This feature ensures that any problematic patches can be quickly rectified, minimizing downtime and maintaining system integrity. 

Backup and Recovery Integrations 

Having a predictable backup and recovery solution that you know you can rely on is essential when it comes for IT system management. Kaseya VSA integrates with leading backup vendors such as Datto and Unitrends to ensure that if you have an update that fails or causes issues that you always have a recovery point. 

Get Started with Kaseya VSA Today 

Implementing update rings and leveraging Kaseya VSA for deployment of updates can significantly enhance your IT management strategy. By ensuring updates are thoroughly tested and rolled out in a controlled manner, you can minimize risks and maintain a stable, secure IT environment. 

Discover how Kaseya VSA can streamline your update management process. Request a demo and see it in action and take the first step towards a more efficient and secure IT environment. 

Related Resources 

• Kaseya VSA Software Management Module 

• Best Practices for Patch Management 

By embracing update rings and utilizing tools like Kaseya VSA, you can ensure your systems remain secure, stable and up-to-date with minimal disruption. This approach will not only enhance your IT management but also provide peace of mind knowing that your IT environment is well-maintained and secure. 

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Due to all these factors, patching has become a perennial thorn in the side of IT professionals. This blog will discuss why patching is necessary, why it’s so hard to achieve high deployment and success rates and why 100% patch compliance is now within reach. Get ready to become a patching pro so you can spend less time in front of your screen and more time on the beach.

Why patching is important 

Regularly patching applications and operating systems (OS) is a crucial security practice. It fixes vulnerabilities that cybercriminals would otherwise use as a backdoor to gain access to your or your clients’ business and compromise organizational integrity. Patch management also helps fix functional bugs so organizations can continue running their business without a hitch. Here are the four main advantages of patching.

Mitigating security risks

A common way for cybercriminals to gain access to organizations is by exploiting software, web applications and OS vulnerabilities. 

In mid-2021, cybercriminals exploited an old, unpatched memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office that allowed them to execute code remotely on vulnerable devices. This vulnerability was disclosed in 2017 and was found to be one of the most exploited by nation-state hackers. 

Cybercriminals delight in exploiting software vulnerabilities to conduct corporate espionage, steal confidential data or launch devastating ransomware attacks. In 2021, 66% of mid-sized organizations’ cyberdefenses were tested by would-be ransomware attackers, with the average cost of a successful incident amounting to $1.4 million according to Cybersecurity Dive. 

Therefore, promptly patching software vulnerabilities significantly reduces the risk of malicious outsiders gaining access to private company data or networks. Patch management ensures the safety and security of your company and your clients. 

Leveraging new features 

There’s more to patching than just security though. Software updates often improve the function and capabilities of applications. These updates fix existing trouble spots or introduce new features that help make applications more valuable and end users more productive. You’re leaving money on the table if you subscribe to a software but don’t apply the latest update. For an MSP, it means lost efficiency and therefore profit, while for an SMB, it means wasting your hard-fought budget.

More system uptime

As IT processes become increasingly integrated, a glitch in one application can disrupt an entire integration workflow. Timely patching ensures that applications continue to work without a hitch, leading to more system uptime. As a result, productivity increases and revenue goes up. 

Avoiding non-compliance penalties 

Another key reason to apply patches is to help maintain regulatory or insurance compliance. Several compliance standards and most IT insurance policies require software to be updated regularly. Failure to stay in compliance can lead to audits, fines and even denial of insurance claims in the case of a breach.

Why 100% patch compliance is hard 

Patching is misleadingly simple to talk about but quite complex to implement. The biggest roadblock to 100% patch compliance is the end users, who often block a patch from being applied to prevent disruption to their workday. Often, these interruptions cause applications to fail on day one. 

The manual patching method gives you a slim chance of identifying and installing all the patches you need. It is simpler and more efficient to automate all steps in the patch process. The asset inventory process should be easy to repeat regularly, so automating it helps ensure that every new device and piece of software is quickly discovered and patched. Your RMM should gather all required patches and install them based on the specified policies and priorities. To avoid software conflicts, you may want to test the patch before deploying, which should also be automated through acceptance testing and the ability to roll back.

Businesses and IT service providers that still use traditional remote monitoring and management (RMM) solutions often grapple with subpar automated patching features and lack modern capabilities like offline patching. The key to 100% patch compliance is an advanced RMM solution that will replace the limitations of manual patching with automation capabilities.

Why 100% patch compliance is now within reach 

You can efficiently address the difficulties associated with patch management by automating the entire process using Kaseya VSA. 

The solution manages patches for Windows, macOS and Linux platforms, detects and remediates vulnerabilities, and monitors and maintains patch compliance with ease. VSA also automates the scheduling of patches by time, computer, group or user-defined collections of computers. You get ready-to-deploy pretested patches, which minimizes the burden of packaging and testing patches.

Are you worried about systems that are not in the inventory? The deep discovery feature of VSA patch management module will let you identify unmanaged machines and patch them too.

Are patches not being applied by end users? You can take advantage of the sleep-proof patching feature, which wakes a computer up in the middle of the night, patches it and turns it off again. Additionally, you can see patch history and review and override patches.

What about third-party patches? We’ve got that covered as well. You can keep your environment completely secure by utilizing VSA’s catalog of 250 third-party software patching licenses.

VSA’s scalable, secure and highly configurable policy-driven approach is location-independent and bandwidth-friendly. It helps ensure all machines comply with patching policies and are secured against cyberattacks. By leveraging all these features in VSA, you can achieve 98%+ patch compliance. The automated patch management workflows will protect your organization behind the scenes while freeing up your time for “higher-value” activities like going to the beach.

To get your hands on a word-class patching setup, request your demo today.

The post Automated Patching: Spend Less Time Patching and More Time on the Beach  appeared first on Kaseya.

In this blog, we’ll discuss patch management policy best practices and explain how they contribute to a better patching environment for large and small organizations alike.

What is a patch management policy?

Patch management involves identifying, sourcing, testing, deploying and installing patches for all systems and applications in an organization. Patches are applied to improve the efficiency and functionality of a system as well as to mitigate security vulnerabilities. Since unpatched vulnerabilities create weak links in a company’s IT infrastructure, cybercriminals target them frequently.

Modern IT environments are intricately structured, resulting in patching becoming a far more complex and time-consuming task than in the past. It takes about 200 days to apply a patch to a regular vulnerability and 256 days to fix a severe vulnerability.

That’s not all though. It takes 15 days on average to patch a vulnerability that is being used in active attacks, according to data collected by Google’s Project Zero. The challenge is even more daunting for smaller companies, which are always strapped for resources and talent. The result is that hackers manage to discover and exploit vulnerabilities before they can be patched.

This is where patch management policies come into play. The policies define the steps, procedures and best practices to follow, especially when patching vulnerabilities that pose a security risk. The goal is to produce a standardized patching process so that technicians can make informed decisions during any stage of the patching process, including when correcting mistakes and handling contingencies.

In the absence of a patch management policy, businesses may have difficulty identifying critical patches. Moreover, without a process to follow, patches can be installed incorrectly, resulting in the shutdown of applications and devices, leading to business disruption.

What is the importance of a patch management policy?

Unpatched vulnerabilities are the cause of one in three breaches around the world. Having an effective patch management policy can help minimize the risk of cyberthreats and business downtime caused by improper patching practices. The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) describes patching as one of its eight essential strategies to mitigate cyber incidents and ensure security. Let’s look at the benefits of having a patch management policy.

• A patch management policy ensures risks are managed promptly so companies can avoid falling prey to cyberattacks.
• Managing patches can be a colossal task that often hinders the work process and leading to clashes between departments over patch timing. When resolving a crisis, time is of the essence. An effective patch management policy anticipates scheduling conflicts and gives guidance on how to resolve them so that work downtime is kept to a minimum.
• A good patch management policy helps ensure that all patching work is completed on time and that the process is well documented. Patching is one of many compliance requirements, and failing to do so can lead to audits, fines and even denial of insurance claims in the case of a breach.
• A company that sells technology should provide timely patches for its solutions in order to manage vulnerabilities. Addressing software bugs quickly helps maintain serviceability and boosts customer satisfaction.
• Patching plays a vital role in enhancing company revenue and reputation by driving product innovation and upgrades.

What should a patch management policy include?

A patch management policy is unique to every company and their systems and processes, but at its heart, it must include the following components to be effective.

Asset tracking and inventory

The security of any device, be it a laptop, a server or a network endpoint, can be compromised if left unpatched. To keep tabs on endpoints that connect to an organization’s network, the IT department should use an automated IT asset discovery tool.

The first step in developing a successful patch management policy is to take inventory of your IT assets. It becomes even more important in remote and hybrid environments where employees connect to the corporate network using various devices and locations. There is no doubt that as the line between personal and business devices blurs, corporate networks will become vulnerable to grave threats.

Teams, roles and responsibilities

Patching is a multistage process that should flow smoothly. Therefore, all stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined. To make patch management ideal, each step of the process, from identifying vulnerabilities to applying patches, should be handled by a dedicated team. It is also important for management to be actively involved in the patching process and escalate issues when patches aren’t applied on schedule. Even though patching may seem simple, it should not be handled by employees, but rather only by IT experts who follow set guidelines.

Risk classification and prioritization

Besides the routine patches, IT technicians must also identify patches for critical software vulnerabilities on a regular basis. Since patches must be applied to several applications and systems, technicians should learn to prioritize and classify patches according to their vulnerability risk and impact on business continuity. Take the example of a company whose servers are vulnerable to cross-site scripting. In this case, servers that host business-critical data must be patched before servers that host internal websites and less critical business applications. Classification and prioritization of assets and patches helps technicians approach patch management in a systematic manner and ensure that critical assets can always remain operational.

Patching process and schedule

The previous sections provide the framework for establishing an enterprise-wide patch management policy. Patching and scheduling outline how to execute the patching process. Patching is a multistep procedure. It includes:

• Monitoring for new patches and vulnerabilities: Monitoring applications, software and devices that require patching or are at risk because of software vulnerabilities. Patch management policies should specify when and how often this task should be performed.
• Patch sourcing: Once the patch is released, you need to obtain it from the vendor. There should be a dedicated person or team for the task since a delay in obtaining patches that fix critical vulnerabilities can spell big security problems for the company.
• Patch testing: The patch should also be tested in an environment very similar to the original IT infrastructure of the company. There are times when patches will not work in certain IT environments. Test environments allow you to study the impact of a patch before applying it to the entire environment. It is crucial that IT managers take backups of their systems prior to applying patches so the old system can be rolled out in case of a problem.
• Configuration management: The goal of this step is to document every change that will occur when the patch is applied. This helps identify devices that don’t respond correctly to the patch or show an anomaly.
• Patch roll out, monitoring and auditing: After a patch is applied to the entire IT infrastructure, its results are monitored to ensure that everything works as expected. Audit your patching process to identify any failed or pending patches, and keep an eye out for unexpected performance issues or incompatibilities.
• Reporting: Update all relevant documentation after a patch is applied. There should be a detailed and in-depth report of every patching session and step. This report can be used for compliance audits, insurance claims and even to demonstrate value to clients.

What are the benefits of a patch management policy?

By having a defined and documented patch management policy, you will be able to improve the process and ensure that it gives the desired and required results. This will also help you identify the best practices. Check out some of the advantages of implementing a patch management policy.

Promotes accountability

A clearly defined chain of accountability will help mitigate problems faster if there is a breach due to a software vulnerability or a problem during the patching process. A common theme that emerged in the wake of Equifax’s 2017 data breach, which was the result of a security flaw the company should have patched weeks earlier, was lack of accountability. The absence of accountability was also a factor in the company’s lax security posture.

Documented processes and expectations

When the patching process is well documented, it is easier for new and long-time employees alike to follow it carefully. An absence of a written process can cause confusion on how to proceed and too many ideas can make matters worse.

Ensures security and compliance

Government agencies are cracking down on companies to ensure that they comply with all security requirements as cyberattacks become more common. Integrating security and compliance standards into your patch management policy will help you stay compliant with the rulebook and keep you on the good side of everyone from the government to the cyber insurers.

Supports uptime and SLAs

Following the wrong patching process can wreak havoc on your operations, cause system downtime and damage your SLAs with your clients. Patch policies detail the steps that need to be followed even when a patching session goes awry. Patching policies translate to a more accurate and efficient patching system at work, more support uptime and happier customers.

Provides a framework to build upon

A documented patch management process reduces ambiguity and makes day-to-day operations easier to follow. This can also be an effective way to identify best practices while ensuring that employees are not left in the dark when they assume responsibility for various patching tasks.

Patch management policy best practices

Each company will have its own patch management policies, and the process will change as technology and business change. However, the following are considered best practices within the industry and should be taken into account when creating a policy at work.

Update systems regularly

A company’s IT systems and assets need to be updated on a regular basis for them to function smoothly. Any disruption can severely impact revenue, profitability or customer service. With a sound and updated IT infrastructure, a company is better positioned to capture opportunities and growth while remaining safe from regulatory fines and cyberattacks.

Track common vulnerabilities

Being proactive is the key to keeping your IT environment secure. Documenting your patching process means you will have a record of all vulnerabilities your company encounters. This information can be used to plan security setups, strengthen your IT infrastructure and derive great learnings for the future.

Document security configurations

A configuration management record should document all the details about patches, tests and configuration changes. Using these documents, one can determine whether immediate action is necessary to mitigate a vulnerability.

Stay current with third-party vendors

Every company, no matter how large or small, uses a variety of third-party software. As the name implies, third-party patching consists of applying patches to third-party applications that are installed on one or more of your endpoints, such as a server, desktop or laptop. Many organizations are proactive in patching their OS software but aren’t as diligent when it comes to patching and updating their third-party software. Therefore, third-party applications have emerged as a popular attack vector for a variety of cyberattacks including malware. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021, it takes 210 days to identify a breach caused by a vulnerability in third-party software, and 76 days to contain it. Thus, it is imperative for businesses to embrace third-party patching to minimize the attack surface for cybercriminals.

Take a comprehensive approach

Your patch management policy should cover all aspects of your IT infrastructure and not just software and operating systems. You should take an inventory of all of your software and hardware, including servers, applications and network devices, as well as operating systems, databases and security systems.

Monitor and assess continuously

The process of patching is continuous, and with each patch, you will learn something new. By documenting each step of the process, you will be better able to identify trends, challenges and opportunities that can further enhance your policy outline. The result will be streamlined business operations and enhanced security.

Automate when possible

The old-fashioned method of manual patching gives you a slim chance of identifying and installing all the patches you need. It is simpler and more efficient to automate all steps in the patch process. The asset inventory process should be easy to repeat regularly, so automating it helps ensure that every new device and piece of software is quickly discovered and patched. The automation tool should gather all required patches and install them based on the specified policies and priorities. To avoid software conflicts, you may want to test the patch before deploying, and this should also be automated through acceptance testing and the ability to roll back.

Build a strong patch management policy with Kaseya

You can easily address the difficulties associated with patch management by automating the entire process using Kaseya VSA. The tool gives you the ability to review and override patches and see patch history. What’s more? This scalable, secure and highly customizable policy-driven approach is location-independent and bandwidth-friendly. With VSA, you can also automate the deployment and installation of software and patches for both on- and off-network devices.

Patching your software and devices is, without question, necessary. We’ve put together a checklist that will help you optimize your patch management policy and build a robust security stance for your IT environment.

Ready to automate your patching? Request a VSA demo today!

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What Is Patch Management?

Patch management is the process of distributing and applying patches to software. This includes operating systems (OS), system software, browsers and applications running on your servers, desktops and laptops. Software vendors issue patches for two primary reasons: to fix functional bugs and to remediate security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers. There are several different kinds of patch releases including hotfixes, security patches and service packs.

There were more than 18,000 publicly disclosed software vulnerabilities in 2020. Vulnerabilities have different criticality ratings that you can use to prioritize patch deployments. Last year there were more than 4,300 “critical” vulnerabilities, many of which allowed “remote code execution.” These are the security bugs that generally need to be patched as soon as possible.

What Is the Purpose of Patch Management?

The objective of patch management is to maintain the functional operation of the software and uphold a good security posture. Fixing software vulnerabilities through patching reduces the “attack surface” and keeps hackers at bay. As per a Ponemon Institute report, 60 percent of breach victims said they were breached due to the exploitation of a known vulnerability where the patch was not applied.

Importance of Patch Management

Patch management is critical when it comes to securing your systems. As mentioned above, the primary purpose of patches is to fix functional bugs and security flaws in the software. Another key reason to apply patches is to help maintain regulatory compliance. Many compliance standards require regular updating of software. So, implementing patch management is necessary for companies to stay compliant with various industry regulations. Failure to stay in compliance can result in fines.

Benefits of Patch Management

Any company can benefit from patch management in the following ways:

• Improved Security – You can protect your IT environment from security breaches by patching your software regularly.
• Minimized Downtime – Ransomware and other cyberattacks can bring your business to a halt. Functional bugs can also cause system downtime.
• Reduced Compliance Fines – Avoid penalties and fines imposed by regulatory bodies by patching your systems.

The Patch Management Process

For efficient patching, organizations should have an automated process that reduces the burden on the IT team as much as possible. However, technicians will still need to review and approve or reject patches in certain cases. It is highly recommended to apply patches within 30 days of release.

Patch Management Lifecycle

The general patch management process looks like this:

• Track patch releases – Stay abreast of patch releases from vendors whose software your business uses.
  • Your endpoint management solution can do this automatically.
• Scan – Your endpoint management tool scans all endpoints (servers, desktops and laptops) to see if there are any that require recently published patches.
• Acquire – Get patches from vendors
  • Download patches from vendor sites when available. For example, Kaseya VSA patch management uses the Microsoft Update Catalog to get Microsoft patches.
• Test – Test the patches in a test environment before deploying them to production systems.
  • Always test the patches before deploying to avoid unforeseen issues.
• Deploy – Deploy patches to your production systems based on your policies.
  • Automate the process of deployment to save time and to maintain hygiene in the IT environment. Schedule patch deployments to avoid business disruption. Use blackout windows to prevent deployments during certain business hours, if necessary.
• Validate – Ensure patches work as expected and don’t break any of your systems or applications.
  • Make sure of the validity and accuracy of patches. Your systems should function as required after the deployment of the patches.
• Report – Report on updated systems and fixes
  • Generate reports on the various patch management tasks. Documenting patching procedures and implementations allows you to refer to the data when required.

Always be on the lookout for new patches. Missed patches can cost you dearly in the form of security breaches.

Patch Management Targets

Patch management pertains to all of your computer systems including servers, desktops and laptops. It also pertains to all types of software running on those devices, from operating systems (OS) and virtualization software to browsers and third-party applications. You will likely have different patch management policies for your servers as compared to your end-user devices.

• Third-Party Patching – Patching of third-party applications such as Google Chrome, Adobe Acrobat, WinZip, and many other applications.

Patch Management Best Practices

Here are a few best practices to follow to successfully implement an efficient patching process:

• Patch from a single console – A unified patch management solution that enables centralized management of patches on all your endpoints enhances efficiency.
• Prioritize patches – Determine the order of deployment of patches based on their criticality either for security or functional reasons.
• Automate the patch management process – Decrease the time between the release and application of patches by automating the process.
• Standardize the patch process – Establish policies that standardize the patch process across your IT environment and for different categories of endpoints (e.g. servers vs workstations). You can set up policies in your endpoint management solution.
• Test your patches before deployment – Create a test environment for patches to avoid being caught off guard by unintended consequences.

Automated Patch Management

Automated patching improves your cybersecurity posture and relieves the burden on your IT team that comes with manually performing software updates. Patch management software can automate the process of endpoint scanning, patch acquisition and deployment for multiple vendors.

Kaseya VSA scans networks for installed and missing patches, detects vulnerabilities, and monitors and maintains patch compliance. It automates scheduling of patches by time, computer, group or user-defined collections of computers.

Known for its powerful OS and third-party patching capabilities, Kaseya VSA is the patch management software for all your patching needs. Keep your off-network (e.g. work from home) users’ computers as well as your on-premises computers patched and up to date. .

Learn how Kaseya VSA can protect your endpoints from vulnerabilities with efficient patching by downloading our tip sheet here.

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What is third-party patching and why is it important? Keep reading to find out!

What are Third-Party Applications?

A third-party application is software created by a company other than the original manufacturer of the device on which the application running or the operating system (OS) that supports it.

For example, Adobe Acrobat Reader is a third-party app that is available for both Microsoft Windows and macOS.

Commonly Used Third-Party Applications

Some of the most commonly used third-party applications include Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Adobe Photoshop, Google Chrome, Google Drive, WinZip, TeamViewer, Evernote, LibreOffice, and Cisco Systems Webex Productivity Tools. Each of these third-party apps are used every day by businesses for their day-to-day operations.

For example, WinZip is a popular third-party app used for compression, sharing, encryption and backing up files. Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is used to view, open, print, sign, search, annotate and share PDF files. Businesses also frequently make use of the file storage and synchronization service offered by Google Drive.

What is Third-Party Patching?

Third-party patching or third-party patch management, is essentially the process of deploying patch updates to third-party applications that have been installed on one or more of your endpoints (e.g., servers, desktops, or laptops). Third-party patching addresses bugs or vulnerabilities in the software that either affect its function or security. Patching software vulnerabilities is a critical part of your overall IT security process that helps prevent exploitation by hackers.

Endpoint management tools also perform patch management for operating systems including Windows, Windows Server and macOS to keep them up to date and protected against cyberattacks.

What is an Application Patch?

An application patch is a version of the software that has been designed to fix a vulnerability or bug in the application. As noted above, patches may address functional bugs or security vulnerabilities.

What is the Difference Between a Patch and an Update?

It is not uncommon for people to confuse patches with updates, although they differ from each other, with each serving a unique purpose. Updates are designed for software enhancement and are focused on adding new or upgraded features and functionalities to an existing program.

On the other hand, patches are specifically designed to fix security vulnerabilities or bugs in the software to improve its usability/performance, minimize the attack surface (by remediating software vulnerabilities) and protect the system against potential cyberattacks.

Why is Third-Party Patching Important?

Cyberattacks are a major threat to the productivity and sustainability of any organization. While many organizations maintain proactive efforts at patching their OS software, they often fail to follow the same discipline in keeping their third-party software patched and up to date.

From small businesses to large enterprises, all companies leverage a variety of third-party software in their daily operations. In recent years, third-party applications have become the primary attack vector for a variety of cyberattacks, such as malware. In the 2020 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, about 6 percent of security breaches (not attacks, actual breaches) involved exploits of software vulnerabilities. As such, it is imperative for businesses to proactively embrace third-party patching to minimize the attack surface for cybercriminals.

Dangers of Neglecting Third-Party Application Patches

The consequences of delaying or ignoring third-party patching can be disastrous for any organization. There were more than 18,000 publicly disclosed software vulnerabilities 2020 and more than 4,300 of them were rated critical. Unpatched critical vulnerabilities in third-party applications are a gateway for cybercriminals to enter the corporate network and wreak havoc on the business.

Every time you don’t deploy the patches released by vendors to fix application security bugs, you are exposing your systems to potential cyberattacks. The infamous ransomware attack Bad Rabbit, which first appeared in 2017, was disguised as an Adobe Flash installer (a third-party app) and spread via drive-by downloads on compromised websites.

Third-party applications, such as Mozilla Firefox and Adobe Reader, have recently emerged as being responsible for a steady upward trend in the number of vulnerabilities that continue to affect users around the world.

Automating the patch management process enables you to avoid the disastrous impacts of serious yet preventable cyberattacks.

How Often Should You Perform Third-Party Patch Management?

Unlike Microsoft, which sticks to a regular patch release schedule, most third-party vendors do not follow a specific frequency for releasing patches. Third-party vendors usually roll out security patches as and when a bug or vulnerability is detected and they need to fix it.

The sheer volume of third-party apps organizations use on an everyday basis makes it next to impossible to manually keep track of all of the relevant patches.

Given that third-party patching (like OS patching) is critical for keeping your organization secure, it only makes sense to automate it. Automating third-party patching ensures that patches for third-party software are automatically deployed within a short time of their release. Generally, you should try to apply patches within 15 to 30 days of availability. For critical vulnerabilities, the sooner the better, of course.

Automated Third-Party Patching

Automating the process of third-party patching ensures that all patches are deployed on time and according to your company’s security policies. Needless to say, automated third-party patching not only helps keep your IT infrastructure secure and up to date but also saves you the headache of performing manual patching.

There are patch management tools for third-party patching that regularly scan third-party software for patch updates and deploy them as soon as they are released by the vendor. Once the patches are installed, the third-party patch management solution documents the process in the form of reports and logs for future reference.

Benefits of Automated Third-Party Patching

Automating third-party patching helps you stay on top of your software patch updates and frees up time for your technicians to focus on more strategic and revenue-generating projects.

Some of the other important benefits of automated third-party patching are:

• Automated Gathering & Deployment: One of the most attractive benefits is that it saves your technicians the cumbersome task of manually searching for and deploying patches for numerous third-party applications that you use every day.
• Consolidated Management & Reporting: Deploying an automated third-party patch management solution enables you to view all the installed patches on a single dashboard and document reports on what patches have been deployed and what issues have been addressed.
• Maintain Security & Compliance: Automating third-party patching ensures timely and consistent installation of patches that not only helps reinforce your cybersecurity posture but also keeps your business compliant with industry regulations.

Automated Third-Party Patching with Kaseya VSA

Kaseya VSA is known across the industry for its powerful OS and third-party patch management capabilities. All you need is Kaseya VSA’s built-in Software Management module and the optional third-party patching license that brings powerful software deployment and patching capabilities to your IT operations. Keep your endpoints secure against ever-evolving cyberthreats with Kaseya VSA.

Learn more about Kaseya VSA’s patch management capabilities.

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Windows 10 divides updates into two categories, with two different release cadences:

1. Feature updates – which relate to improvements and new capabilities and are released twice a year, during spring and fall, also known as “semi-annual” releases.
2. Quality updates – which are Windows security improvements and are also known as “cumulative updates”. These usually happen every second Tuesday of every month, also known as “Patch Tuesday”, with the most recent one being on April 14, 2020.

Occasionally, if there’s a high-risk security vulnerability discovered, Microsoft releases an out-of-band patch, i.e. in between Patch Tuesdays, that should be applied immediately.

A recent out-of-band security update was released in March 2020 to address an SMB vulnerability referred to as ‘SMBGhost’ or ‘EternalDarkness’ by security vendors. This ‘wormable’ Windows vulnerability, CVE-2020-0796, impacted the Microsoft Server Message Block 3.1.1 (SMBv3 network communications protocol). (Read more about it in our blog Pay Attention to Cybersecurity Warnings).

Patches are cumulative in Windows 10, meaning that if you miss an update one month, it’s rolled into the patch for the next month.

From a business IT perspective, we want to automate the Windows 10 update process using an endpoint management solution. We also want complete control over the process so that we can specify the update schedule and determine which individual devices or groups of devices receive them.

Windows 10 Patching in Kaseya VSA

Kaseya VSA enables you to automatically deploy Windows patches. It also supports native Windows patching. This allows you to configure Windows update settings in VSA and control how Windows manages its own patching process.

You can also enforce the Windows configuration settings you set up in VSA by automatically reverting to them if a local admin makes changes.

Kaseya VSA and Windows Update Group Policy

Using Kaseya VSA, your IT administrators can apply and remove Windows Update Group Policies and set them on all managed endpoints. They can configure many different Windows Update Group Policy options in VSA, such as:

Windows Automatic Updates

This specifies whether a specific computer will receive security updates and other important downloads through the Windows automatic updating service.

Windows Update Power Management

This allows you to wake up a computer to apply the Windows patch update. This could be very useful if you want to schedule Windows updates for remote worker computers that may be turned off after hours.

Control download bandwidth

With Kaseya VSA you can also control download bandwidth used for the Windows update. This can be very useful when managing remote worker computers that may be on lower bandwidth home networks.

Windows Patch Management Best Practices

Here are a few best practices for managing Windows patches:

• Execute your scans throughout the week prior to an upcoming Patch Tuesday to ensure you have the latest information available on your endpoints.
• Distribute your scans extensively. This is important since users are mostly working from home and we want to conduct software patch management related tasks during non-peak hours to ensure the tasks can be completed. Kaseya VSA supports scan distribution windows.
• Distribute your patch deployments. It is no secret that Windows patches are beginning to get larger in size (some over 1GB). This can strain not only your server but also your remote user’s network. We highly recommend staggering deployments with 6+ hour distribution windows if you are deploying during business hours.
• Take a look at scheduling deployment times with expanded distribution windows.
• Review new patches as they are released and create a plan to test the deployment of these newly available patches to a test environment or select group of endpoints before you deploy widely to your environment.

To learn more about patching your systems efficiently and improving your IT security with Kaseya VSA, download our checklist 10 Tips to Improve IT Security.

The post Managing Windows 10 Updates and Patches appeared first on Kaseya.

In the 2019 Kaseya State of IT Operations Survey, nearly three-quarters of participants stated that they scan all servers and workstations for operating system (OS) patches, whereas about 47 percent said they scan all servers and workstations for third-party software patches regularly. 

 While most businesses are aware of the importance of patching, many lack the proper tools and automation necessary to carry out patching in a timely manner.  The sheer number of patches means that manual processes can’t keep up. In 2018, more than 22,000 software vulnerabilities were disclosed. A patch is made available at the time of disclosure for the vast majority of vulnerabilities. Typically, organizations strive to apply critical patches within 30 days of availability.

In the 2019 Kaseya State of IT Operations Survey results, about 65 percent of the participants responded that they apply critical OS patches within 30 days of release, about the same as the 68 percent that said they did so in 2018. This suggests the other 35 percent have either overlooked patches or it takes them longer than 30 days, leaving themselves exposed to cyberattacks.

Patching of third- party applications is even more of a concern. Only 42 percent of the survey participants monitor third-party software and apply critical patches for these within 30 days, similar to the 43 percent that said they did so in 2018.

Every software vendor has its own schedule of patch releases. Keeping up with patch releases across all of your vendors and deploying them on time can be a challenge for IT professionals. Therefore, automating the entire process of patch management can not only save time and effort of your IT team, but also ensure that every critical vulnerability is patched on time, keeping your systems secure. 

So, have the SMBs automated their patch management process? Less than half have done so, according to the survey.

Automated patch management has not yet become a standard operating procedure for the majority of small and midsize companies. Only about 42 percent automate or plan to automate patch management. 

Improving IT security is the topmost priority for most SMBs and automating the patch management process could help them stay ahead of the onslaught of cyberattacks. With cyberattacks having become the norm these days, maintaining up to date patches is critical to the business.

Would you like to know more about the state of IT operations of SMBs? Download the complete copy of 2019 Kaseya State of IT Operations Report for SMBs now. 

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Security breaches are mostly caused by more than one instigator. It can involve hacking, malware, human errors and other factors. According to the 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) by Verizon, about 21 percent of security breaches were due to human errors and 15 percent of the breaches were caused by an application or data misuse by authorized users.  

To prevent breaches, security teams must patch quickly. However, IT teams are held back by manual processes and off-network systems that hinder their ability to patch on time. About 57 percent of cyberattack victims report that their breaches could have been prevented by installing an available patch. 

Automate the Patch Management Process 

The biggest challenge for patch management is the fact that the process is time-consuming and requires constant attention. This can, however, be overcome by automating the various IT processes related to software patching. 

Auto Discovery of Endpoints:  You can’t patch what you can’t see. Auto-discovery of every single endpoint in the IT environment reduces the risk of blind spots and keeps every system in view.  

Create Patch Deployment Policy: Configure how and when to deploy the patches based on your organization’s patching requirements and to minimize network impact. Use a patch management solution that minimizes network bandwidth consumption.

Automate Patch Deployment: Use a systematic and automated solution that deploys scheduled patches across all systems without any manual intervention. 

Scan for Missing Patches: Automate the process of researching the latest patches and determining which patches are missing on systems to ensure that your systems are always up-to-date. Schedule scans for missing patches and updates.

Automate Reporting: An up-to-date patch status and compliance report should be automatically generated in the event of patch deployment. This is helpful for security compliance reporting.

Patch management plays a critical role in ensuring that companies keep their systems fully up-to-date with the latest security patches. A robust patch management solution that provides a single view of all the patches installed on machines across the organization and that automates patching should be a key component of an organization’s IT security strategy. Reduce your cybersecurity risk and ensure that endpoints are in compliance with your security policies. 

Kaseya VSA patch management software provides real-time visibility of the patch status of your entire IT environment, including on and off-network devices. VSA’s Software Management module is powered by policies that allow you to automate software management across platforms and easily address the complexities of software patching. 

To learn more about VSA, request a demo.  

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