Why Patch Management Is Not Enough

What is patch management and why is it important?

There is a very high chance you, or your MSP, are providing patch management services. These are included in most IT management software suites and is an extremely important aspect of the overall vulnerability management lifecycle. Patch management is the process of applying updates to software and systems to fix security flaws, improve functionality, or enhance performance. It is an essential part of maintaining a secure and efficient IT environment, especially for organizations that rely on third-party vendors or cloud-based services. Patch management helps prevent attacks that exploit known vulnerabilities, reduce downtime and errors, and comply with regulatory standards and best practices.

What are the limitations of patch management?

While patch management is a core component of vulnerability management, it is not sufficient on its own, even when the patch management tooling provides some risk/vulnerability overview. The problem is that patch management tools typically only alert on missing patches that they know of and can deploy. This can result in many other vulnerabilities being missed such as:

Legacy systems, custom applications, IoT devices, or cloud services that are not compatible with the patch management software and require manual intervention.
Emerging threats for which there is not yet a patch, or that the patch has not been indexed within the management tool.
System configuration vulnerabilities.

Any of these issues can leave potentially critical security vulnerabilities open without proper visibility into the risk when relying on patch management alone.

How does McCormack Cyber Solutions help clients with vulnerability management?

McCormack Cyber Solutions offers a range of services to help clients achieve a more comprehensive approach to vulnerability management. Our services include:

Vulnerability Assessment – which involves a single scanning and analyzing the client’s IT environment to identify and prioritize the existing and potential vulnerabilities, and provide recommendations for remediation and mitigation.
Vulnerability Management – which includes installation of best-in-class scanners from Tenable within the environment, as well as agents deployed to remote worker machines to provide an in-depth overview of missing patches and misconfigurations.
Penetration Testing – While not directly related to the vulnerability management process specifically it can help to identify how weaknesses can be exploited within a client’s environment, as well as discover additional flaws which may not be detected in a vulnerability assessment.

Furthermore, MCS offers a Vulnerability Management Program which includes:

MCS’ vulnerability management service
1 annual network or application penetration test
1 annual cloud configuration review
Access to our combined findings portal to aid in tracking, collaboration, and remediation of all findings within your environment

Interested in a demo of the portal and our service offerings? Please contact us at info@mccormackcyber.com. We appreciate your trust and partnership with McCormack Cyber Solutions.