Cyber Security requirements and compliance tighten further as Cyber Essentials certification requires 14-day patch cycles. This doesn’t apply to every single patch released by all software vendors; it targets explicitly “Important”, “High Risk”, or “Critical” patches and updates. Cyber Security threats are deployed rapidly and abuse slow patching to exploit old security bugs and loopholes. As a result, its never been more prudent to have a patching/software maintenance cycle defined as a business requirement and adhered to.
The first and more disruptive side to 14-day patch cycles is Windows Operating System patches, as these often take the longest to complete, require reboots and frequently leave machines in an unusable state. In contrast, the patches are pushed through installation processes. No longer is it adequate to keep deferring patches and updates until months pass. But don’t haphazardly start updating all your business devices! Microsoft’s patches and updates are known to be recalled due to causing hardware/firmware failures; if you’re leading the charge with updates and patching, you’ll fall victim to Microsoft’s ever lacking patching solution and be stuck with computers that don’t function.
We’ll work with you, your staff, and their devices to schedule acceptable maintenance windows and track patches to ensure only verified patches are pushed and automate patch distribution to ensure that devices are compliant within 14 days of critical patches as per Cyber Essential requirements. This doesn’t limit itself to Windows, either. Our Remote Monitoring and Maintenance (RMM) patching solution can detect products such as Adobe, Chrome, Firefox and Java (to name but a few), advise on missing latest releases and allow us to schedule updating them into the operating system patch cycle too.
Suppose you have niche/bespoke software solutions operating within your business. In that case, you’ll need to liaise directly with the software vendors to ensure the latest available tested and verified the stable release of their product is made available to you. If you need help pushing these out, and when they are available, we can liaise directly with your software vendor acting on your behalf to ensure the vendor has considered your working environment and other IT variables before signing off the update as compatible. There will be instances, however, where our RMM agent is unable to assist.
If you have any queries or concerns over patching for your business, please do reach out to us – we’ll schedule a call, as what we do today secures your business for tomorrow.