In managing patches, there’s no universally-fit-all solution to tackling something that no one would like to complete: updating software to incorporate new features or, more gruelingly, fixing a security vulnerability before a computer hacker or virus discovers it.
Every business should have an approach to managing patches. The key to ensuring the strategy is successful is to manage it with experts. Let’s examine the advantages and disadvantages of Intune vs WSUS patches management.
Pros of Patch management
The main purpose of patch management is to secure your devices from hacker attacks and keep your systems in top condition. However, patch management can also provide several other advantages:
- Improve productivity within the business: Thinking of patch management as a compromise to productivity is a popular misconception. Properly managed software with updated patches is more efficient and can boost employee productivity.
- Reduce the cost of managing the lifecycle of devices and repair: The office is all over, and companies have had to change their strategies rapidly to support a dispersed staff. Remote management tools expand IT capabilities and help reduce the requirement for expensive equipment or truck rolls.
- Help you comply with laws, regulations, and standards: Many companies must comply with local or federal requirements for protecting personal data. Those could govern them under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for patient records and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the personal data collected through customer interactions and other similar regulations.
Cons of Patch Management
No matter what your business is, ensuring that your technology systems are patched and up-to-date is crucial. But ensuring that your systems are updated and patched is a long and exhausting task. A few drawbacks of Patch Management are constantly in the background of each IT professional’s mind.
- Lack of transparency: The most frequent patch management issue we face is the lack of transparency into which patches have been used on which devices. You cannot guarantee that your company complies with patches without a comprehensive patch report. It is essential to track the state of every security patch that has been deployed and also the systems that are affected by any vulnerability patched.
- Installation failures: Several issues could fail when installing new patches on systems. The failures can leave your system vulnerable to attacks, from compatibility issues with existing software components to flaws within the patch.
- Manual patching: Ultimately, manually patching each application across every system within your business isn’t a practical solution. This is especially true for large companies where the app inventory can range between hundreds and thousands. IT would likely have the resources and time to carry out these updates if everything were perfect. However, this isn’t an ideal world.
Conclusion
Patch management certainly has been gaining a lot of attention as research has shown that apps that are not monitored software can lead to the leak of data. Patch management is the latest “kid” on the block and has already demonstrated great potential in protecting against what could be a business nightmare. It does not praise to see private data smuggled all over the internet, demanding access from users with pockets full of cash.