Basics of Patch Management Policies

TL;DR:

• Patch management policies are essential for controlled, efficient, and secure patching at an enterprise scale.
• They help in avoiding cyber incidents, managing time effectively, ensuring compliance, and maintaining availability and performance.
• A good patch management policy should include knowing what needs patching, prioritizing, defining patching processes and schedules, and assigning roles and responsibilities.
• Benefits of a patch management policy include enhanced security, compliance, availability, and smoother workflow.
• Best practices for patch management policies involve creating SOPs, tracking vulnerabilities and patches, documenting security configurations, and conducting continuous assessments.

The process of patching itself is an easy one. You probably just need to click some buttons or run a couple of commands and the software takes care of everything else. This, however, is simple only when you have a couple of software to patch on a personal system. But at an enterprise scale, it’s not that simple. This post focuses on the approach to make this process simple - Patch Management Policy. Understanding the basics of patch management policies is crucial for effective software maintenance. We’ll start by understanding what a patch management policy, why it is important. We’ll then get into what a typical patch management policy should include and wind it up with some best practices.

Understanding the Basics of Patch Management Policies

Think of all the systems, software, services, components of an application that you need to patch, and in time. With multiple vendors releasing patches as soon as they can and the criticality of applying these patches in time to avoid a cyber incident, it’s crucial to have a strategy for patching.

Patch management policies are a set of guidelines to ensure controlled, efficient and secure patching. These guidelines contain steps and procedures that one should follow when patching bugs and vulnerabilities. There are different types of patches - security patches, hotfixes, service packs, and so on. Some of these focus on fixing vulnerabilities, while others focus on fixing bugs or enhancing functionality.

The process of patching has been around forever, even without any policies. So what’s the need for patch management policies now?

Recognizing the Significance of Implementing a Patch Management Policy

Patch management is not just about patching. It’s about how well we do it. There are 3 important things you have to take care of in patch management: timeliness, efficiency, and quality. Patch management policies help you achieve all of them.

Enhancing Cybersecurity by Implementing Patch Management Policies

This mostly applies to security patches. Vendors and security researchers are continuously working on finding vulnerabilities and fixing them. Their goal is clear, find a fix and make patches available as soon as possible. However, there’s also a downside to this. When vendors release security updates, they’re making patches available. But along with that, they’re also making information about the vulnerability public. Attackers can leverage this information to target and launch attacks. Patch management policies help you apply security patches sooner so that the attackers can leverage the vulnerability.

Efficient Time Management through Patch Management Policies

There are 2 aspects concerning time when it comes to patch management:

• Patches should be applied promptly
• Patching shouldn’t hamper the work and progress of teams

Patch management policies address both of these. With proper policies in place, your team knows how to learn about new patches, and how to plan and schedule patching so there’s minimal impact on teams. Therefore patch management policies also help you build efficient processes and workflow.

Ensuring Compliance with Patch Management Policies

Organizations are required to comply with certain regulations based on the industry. Although these regulations are best practices and a baseline for security, they’re not optional. If an organization is not in compliance with necessary regulations, the organization might have to pay heavy fines. One might find patch management expensive but these fines are way more expensive.

Improving Availability and Performance with Patch Management Policies

It’s important for any business to keep their services available and have good performance. A good number of patches aim towards improving the performance of applications. Effective patch management policies help maintain availability and improve performance so the business benefits from it.

We’ve been going about patch management policies. Now it’s time see to what a patch management policy should include.

Key Elements to Include in a Patch Management Policy

An ideal patch management policy can vary from one organization to another due to multiple variables involved in the process. However, some elements are the core of patch management policies. And that’s what we’ll cover in this section.

Identifying Areas Requiring Patching in the Policy

The first step to fixing something is to understand what needs fixing. At an enterprise scale, you will find a lot of systems. Manually exploring the systems and checking if each system needs the newly released patch is not efficient. Therefore it’s important to keep track of the systems in the scope of the policy. To make things easier, you can also go ahead and have details about the products, software, and packages used on different systems so that if there’s a new patch available, you know what systems are affected by a vulnerability and fix them.

Effective Prioritization within Patch Management Policies

First, let’s do an imagination exercise. Let’s say you’re in charge of security for an organization and the organization is under attack. The server is under attack and there’s an L1 employee's system under attack. Which of these 2 systems will you attend to first? No doubt the server. The reason is simple - a compromised server is far more catastrophic than a compromised system of an employee.

You can have multiple patches to apply and you can have multiple systems to patch. A good patch management policy should cover prioritizing patching so the most critical systems and patches are addressed first.

Establishing a Patching Process and Schedule in the Policy

It is not wise to wait for a patch to be available to decide how to apply the patch to your systems. It’ll only delay the patching process giving time for attackers. Patch management policies should have well-defined processes so the focus can be on applying patches rather than thinking about how to go about the process. Scheduling patching is also important to make sure the process doesn’t affect the operation of your organization, especially in cases where patching requires a system restart.

Defining Teams, Roles, and Responsibilities in the Policy

The patch management process involves multiple tasks and phases. As this process is something that organizations have to perform regularly, it’s important to know who does what. Patch management policies should include roles and responsibilities and the stakeholders and teams should be aware of these.

Advantages of Implementing a Patch Management Policy

Securing Systems and Ensuring Compliance through Patch Management Policies

Patch management policies focus on patching efficiently and on time. And a good number of patches are to fix vulnerabilities. Due to this, patch management policies help organizations ensure security. Additionally, a lot of security-related practices are the baseline for compliance so these policies also help you stay compliant with regulations.

Enhancing Availability with Patch Management Policies

One of the goals of patch management policies is to ensure the patching process doesn’t impact the current state of applications, systems, and teams. As a result, the policies help in uptime and sticking to SLAs.

Facilitating a Smoother Workflow with Patch Management Policies

Patch management policies define clear processes, roles, and responsibilities. Thereby enabling an efficient workflow.

Let’s now go through some of the best practices for patch policies.

Best Practices for Patch Management Policies

Essential Components of a Comprehensive Patch Management Policy

A comprehensive patch management policy typically includes several key sections to ensure effective implementation and oversight. These sections cover the scope of assets and software under management, designation of authority for policy execution, prioritization criteria for patches based on severity and risk, and scheduling guidelines for patch installation. The policy should also outline preparation steps like system backups, procedures for manual patch application and downtime approval, and protocols for handling exceptions and failed patches. Additionally, it should specify reporting requirements to measure compliance and success in patch management efforts. By addressing these critical areas, organizations can establish a robust framework for maintaining system security and stability through consistent and well-managed patching processes.

Understanding the Benefits of Patch Management Policy Templates and Components

Patch management policy templates provide organizations with a structured approach to managing software updates and security patches. These templates typically include essential components such as policy statements, clearly defined roles and responsibilities, specific patching guidelines, and compliance standards. By incorporating these elements, organizations can establish a comprehensive framework for their patch management activities. Policy statements outline the overall objectives and scope of the patch management process, while roles and responsibilities ensure that all team members understand their duties in implementing and maintaining the policy. Patching guidelines offer specific instructions on prioritizing, testing, and deploying patches, while compliance standards help ensure that the organization meets regulatory requirements and industry best practices. By utilizing these templates, organizations can create a robust and effective patch management strategy tailored to their specific needs and environment.

Developing Standard Operating Procedures within Patch Management Policies

An efficient patch management policy should be such that the patching process is like a well-oiled machine. To achieve this, the policies should have standards defined. SOPs increase efficiency as everyone knows what they have to do. It also decreases errors in the process as the processes are clearly defined. Automation can be of great help especially if you have repetitive tasks.

Monitoring Vulnerabilities and Patches in Patch Management Policies

This involves 2 things:

• Tracking previously patched vulnerabilities
• Staying on the lookout for new patches

Past information helps you understand where you’re lacking and strategize on strengthening your defences. Knowing how a category of the patch was applied can also benefit in the future and can help improve the policies.

Vendors are constantly working on providing patches to fix issues. You have to keep up with them and make sure you look for these updates. Regular research is important to learn about these patches so you can work on fixing them. You can also set up notifications to be informed when a vendor releases patches.

Recording Security Configurations in Patch Management Policies

A patch is not the only way to fix all security issues. In some cases, a patch is all you need but in other cases, there’s more. It’s crucial to know which category a vulnerability in your system falls under. To address this, you have to document all details regarding the vulnerability and its patch. Evaluating test results and updates to security configurations can help you understand if the patch is enough or if you need to do more.

Conducting Continuous Assessments in Patch Management Policies

Patch management is a continuous process. A patch management policy that is perfect for you today might not be enough in a couple of months or years. Hence, it’s important to evaluate your policies and see if they’re still ideal. The documentation part mentioned previously can be of great help as you can use it to understand where you’re lacking and then tune your policies accordingly.

Concluding Thoughts on Patch Management Policies

Throughout this post, we’ve covered different aspects of patch management policies - what is a patch management policy, why is it important, what it should include, how can organizations benefit from it, and some best practices.

Patching is important for security and improving functionality. So are patch management and patch management policies. I will leave you with two questions to think about and act upon - Are you following the best practices mentioned in this post? Are your best practices enough for your organization?