How can you ensure that all devices on your network are up-to-date with patches?

The correct answer is you can't be sure that ALL devices on your network are patched all the time. While many view patch management and vulnerability management as synonymous, in fact for a vulnerability management program to be sound it must consider more than patching alone. System hardening, strong access controls, network controls, logging and monitoring and a plethora of other foundational things that all contribute to a more threat-resilient environment must be considered. It's been mentioned here - but adding threat and risk context to help prioritize patching is gaining steam in the industry as are approaches such as using allow-listing technologies which only allow known good things to run on a device.

-Asset inventory is key. -You can't patch what you don't know about. -External Vulnerability scanning is one way to know what is patched or not. Scanning with credentials is even better. -Vulnerability applications residing on the endpoints themselves will keep you notified of current vulnerabilities. -Automated system can assist in keeping applications up to date. -Some NAC (Network Access Control) systsems will check your computer for vulnerabilities before you can get on a network and will redirect you to resources to patch your computer. Only when you finished patching, then you will be allowed on the network.

To ensure all devices in the network are up to date with patches, we first need an UpToDate inventory with device and software details after which following practices can be initiated: 1.Establish clear patching policies, including timelines and procedures. 2.Stay updated on patch releases through vendor notifications and alerts. 3.Conduct regular vulnerability scans to identify patch requirements. 4. Maintain a centralized patch repository for easy access and distribution. 5. Schedule patch deployment during non-peak hours to minimize disruption. 6. Test patches in a controlled environment before production deployment. 5. Prioritize critical patches addressing high-risk vulnerabilities.

Simple answer is that YOU CANT .. Anyone who thinks every single device on their network is patched is living in a dream world .. What can be done is creating a vulnerability management program that targets the key devices that need patching and puts in mitigants on the rest. In an ideal world , the IT team would unlimited resources and time for patching but we dont live in that world :) .. This is the reason learning threat modeling is a key skill which I always encourage

Use a solution that aids in understanding your attack surface. Anything connected to your corporate network, whether it's an endpoint, IoT, or OT device, must be managed or meet a certain level of compliance before being granted access to your resources. A good starting point could be employing a solution like Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Through its sensors, this tool can scan your network and highlight all connected devices, thereby identifying those that have not been onboarded. Additionally, you can implement conditional access policies and enforce device compliance, named locations, etc, to ensure secure access to your resources.

First thing you need to do is a continuous scan. Every device detected must be registered in an asset inventory. Then you need to "manage" the devices, the best way is with a MDM but some devices may not be supported by the MDM. In this case you need to have a specific category into the asset manager and monitor these devices for updates manually. Managing updates of IoT devices might be extremely difficult :(

Patch management is a key part of cybersecurity, but it's also a challenging one, especially in large and complex environments. It's not realistic or reasonable to expect that you'll be able to ensure *all devices* on your network are up-to-date with patches 100% of the time. However, you can prioritize patching for critical / high vulnerabilities & for "crown jewels" (the most critical, valuable, and sensitive data or assets that an organization possesses - such as intellectual property and customer data)

- Maintaining an up-to-date asset inventory of all company-managed assets is paramount (there are automated tools that can help with discovery and cataloguing) - Prioritise assets based on their criticality/data/risk classification - Reduce threat surface by setting up all devices from known-good (golden) images to ensure consistency across the infrastructure - Deploy a solution that can perform live queries on all managed-devices to get additional information (OSQuery or an EDR is a good example) - Consume up-to-date threat intelligence and vulnerability management feeds to keep updated with latest vulnerabilities and patching requirements

Automated Asset Discovery tools can help alleviate much of the work in today's complex IT networks. However, to fully trust a tool to manage it completely would be foolhardy and one should pair it with regular assets audits to gain visibility of any potential gaps.

Patch management was always and still is a difficult task for IT teams. ➡️ Our answer is vulnerability scanning ⬅️ Of course it is not a silver bullet. And as any approach, it won't assure 100% success rate. ⏱️ But, it directly helps with prioritization which assets to patch first when looking at severity of missing patches. ✅ IT teams often see this as a positive and welcomed fact in our experience. Vulnerability scanning is a very good base to begin with, but of course vulnerability scanning is not a replacement of hardening systems, recurring configuration reviews, security reviews, penetration tests et al.

In my experience supporting organizations in improving their vulnerability management practices, I can comfortably say that not all vulnerabilities are made equal. Having a clear picture of business context to the asset that is being patched is paramount to good patching processes and ensuring that the biggest priority devices and therefore vulnerabilities are taken care of first.

Patching should be planned and coordinated following change management processes. -A time window to perform the change -Scanning processes before uploading into environment. -Testing and validation -Roll back procedures -Post update monitoring because you may still need to rollback a change after a day or 2. -Post mortem to identify issues during the process and any improvements.

I'm a big gamer. Patching in IT security and gaming updates share intriguing similarities. They both deal with bug fixes, aiming for balance, and introducing new features. Like gamers scrutinizing patch notes, IT professionals closely review security advisories. Testing and rollback plans are critical, as both can disrupt systems or gameplay. User feedback, be it from players or vulnerability reports, shapes patch priorities. In essence, whether you're waiting for a game update or managing system security patches, the goal is to maintain a smooth and secure experience, with a touch of excitement for what's next.

Once we identify the systems to be patches, next is to formulate a patching cycle based on priority of patches to be implemented and to have defined timelines for testing, implementation and verification and roll back plan if patch implementation causes any system abnormalities. Detailed RACI to be there to make sure who does what for end to end patching

Make sure you can walk without tripping over before you try to run blindly. You need to absolutely trust your source to automate patching or else you can automate the same amount of issues for yourself.

A Unified Endpoint Management solution for end-user devices and Infrastructure-as-Code automation for data center assets can greatly enhance automation and remote management capabilities for assets. Using automation provided by those solutions can assist to apply patching across the organization on fixed intervals and timeframes, automatically distribute new patches as they become available to all systems, rollback systems en-masse if there is an issue and also enforce patching policies that allow users to postpone patching for a limited amount of time only and ensure timely patching according to your orgs risk tolerance levels. Automation also ensures change management auditing and accountability as each patch application is fully tracked

Automating patch management is essential. As tech leader Mark Hurd noted, "The computer can do more than humans can do." Automation saves time and resources, reduces errors, enforces consistency, and ensures a swift response to threats. In the words of Bill Gates, "The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it." Using patch management tools and backup software offers a comprehensive approach, while also simplifying tasks like patch discovery, installation, and verification. Automation is the key to resilience and recovery, ensuring that systems remain stable and secure. Embracing automation in patch management is not just a choice; it's a necessity in today's fast-paced tech world.

From my experience using my own home managed-network as an example, I have alerts sent to my phone and work laptop indicating when there's an update and on which device the update is applicable to. I then take time to review the update, ensure my scheduled backups are completed, and then apply the updates when there's no impact to those using my network. If for some reason the update causes unforeseen havoc, then I simply remove it and restore from my backups.

Patching often breaks the SIEM rules because either a field mapping changed or the entire schema. Sending the product version and parsing it can you help pair them with the intended parsers. Additionally you can leverage file integrity monitoring tools to detect, monitor and track changes on systems. Lastly, lean on your system monitoring team to identify spikes or abnormal system behavior in the hours following the patching. I would recommend coordinating that with the monitoring team before to ensure a good baseline exists to compare to.

I constantly look over at my dog to check she's doing okay. Sorry cat people of LinkedIn. But stick with me. Just as you regularly check on loved ones to ensure they're safe and sound, monitoring patch activities ensures the ongoing health of your systems. It's a process of continuous improvement, much like nurturing family relationships, addressing issues, and understanding how changes affect everyone. Feedback from family members helps improve your dynamics, just as patch feedback enhances your cybersecurity. It's not a one-time event; it's an ongoing commitment to security and well-being.

A patch is a software update that addresses security issue within an application or operating system. This means any unpacked asset can be consider as vulnerable/danger for the organisation/network. Best way to handle patching is scheduling the scans and automating the patching process. Post the schedule, a through analysis must be conducted to verify if the patching was successful. Rectify the reason for unsuccessful patches to ensure it is not skipped in next cycle. Finally, frequent audits of the process is a must.

Patching is a continuous activity which should be taken seriously but first you need to understand your network thoroughly, cautiously automate the patch discovery process and benchmark it against the compliance level of your organisation.

To enhance your patching, review failed patches and not just successful patches. Check whether patches were pushed successfully, how many patches failed and investigate on why they failed.

In addition to all the mentioned points and contributions, Patch Rollback is vital in patch management, allowing quick system or app restoration when patches create problems. It minimizes risks, and downtime, and ensures business continuity. Key steps: 1. identify the issue 2. isolate affected systems 3. invoke the rollback plan 4. test thoroughly, and 5. investigate root causes. Best practices include automation, meticulous documentation, and regular procedure reviews. Patch rollback ensures swift recovery from deployed patch-related issues.

Patching can be a blessing as well as a boon if not applied appropriately. In my experience, one should always test the patches for its compatibility (atleast on the critical prod servers) to ensure that it doesn't break down leading to unexpected downtime and unavailability. Also, ALWAYS have a backout plan. Doesn't matter how big or small a patch is. It can always lead to unforeseen disaster.

Establish a vulnerability remediation strategy for prioritizing remediation in accordance to risk levels that considering exposure factor and impact of successful exploitation as well as whether the vulnerability is being actively exploited. Patching is also one means to remediate vulnerabilities. There are other methods that should be considered, from disabling a network service that wasn't really necessary in the first place, to firewalling out a remotely exploitable network service to virtual patching, etc.

Inventory of all your assets is the key. This includes Hardware and software inventory. The primary reason why organizations struggled to get Log4j under control is that software inventory was incomplete. In a nutshell -Good inventory of all assets with OEM support subscription - Define asset criticality and path mgmt policy - Monitor patch compliance through KRI or KPI monitoring - Run regular scans to identify missing patches

Use risk management and threat analysis to prioritize your patching activities. In large networks it might be hard to go for the big bang approach to patching so you might need to prioritize where you start. Devices that are more exposed to the relevant threat should be your first priority

I biggest culprit in a patching strategy is the change management process and the amount of steps required to perform a change. Not every change is created equal so it's important to lean out that process as much as possible as well as have emergency measures in place to swiftly patch if a zero day gets published with a POC.

Making use of a patch management tool doesn't necessarily mean all the systems in your network have been properly patched. Because no matter how technically-equipped the patch management tool you may be using might be, it will be of no use to you without a solid patch management strategy in place. There are 5 critical security controls every enterprise patch management strategy should address or cover in order for their patch management tools to be effective. 1. Inventory of Authorized and Unauthorized Devices 2. Inventory of Authorized and Unauthorized Software 3. Secure Configuration for Hardware and Software on Various Devices 4. Continuous Vulnerability Assessment and Remediation 5. Controlled Use of Device Privileges

Automate your Inventory and trigger alerts/notifications for the systems with lower versions of OS/Patch. Make sure to send the alerts/Notification to group email. Notifications can also be set with escalation matrix over the time interval or repetition.

Could not agree more with Dr. Shah here! Patch rollback is like having a safety net for your systems. Would you do a digital trust fall on your systems and open them up to ethical hackers? Probably not unless you're Apple, right? Just as in life, unexpected problems can arise. Rollback mechanisms ensure that if a patch causes issues, you can revert to a stable state, minimizing disruptions. It's an essential part of proactive patch management, providing peace of mind in the face of unforeseen challenges. Being proactive is key!