According to the latest report, more than 55 percent of small and medium-sized businesses get hacked every year. Hackers are looking for more complex ways of breaking into computer systems. Thus, companies are also investing a lot of money in their security. Companies are trying to protect their data from attackers. If you have good network security, then you can avoid a data breach.

There are various security measures that you can take for increasing your network security. But, most companies ignore patch management. There are many benefits of patch management that they don’t know. In this article, we are going to discuss patch management.

What is Patch Management?

First, you should know about a patch. A patch is a simple code that will help you in improving the program that is already running on your computer. For example, security patches are used for fixing the vulnerabilities that are present in the software. Software vendors release patch after finding any bug in their application. This will ensure that attackers can’t use already known bugs for hacking into your network.

Patches are important for your IT infrastructure. These will ensure that your operating systems, routers and applications are updated. But, it is very difficult to maintain all these patches in a large network. Patch management will help you in managing these patches. It will ensure that your IT infrastructure is up-to-date.

In this, a device or person will check for system patches. It will decide if these patches are required for your system. After that, it will install these patches. If your infrastructure is up-to-date, then your network will be less vulnerable to attacks. This will help you in reducing the risk of data breaches. Your IT department can check your system for patches. But, most companies are hiring managed service providers for patch management. This will allow your IT department to focus on more important tasks like deploying new applications.

Why Patch Management is important

In 2017, Equifax paid more than 1 billion dollars due to data breach. The credit card number and other financial information of their clients were leaked by attackers. Equifax faced various criminal charges due to this data breach. Also, their reputation was completely destroyed. Their IT department forgot to install a patch in their web applications. Attackers used the same application for stealing their data. The security patch was already available. But, Equifax never updated their web application. Thus, patch management is very important for any business. Some of the most important benefits of patch management are:

Better Security

This is the most important benefit of having proper patch management. Security patches are created when a business has already experienced a data breach. These security breaches will ensure that your business is safe from similar vulnerabilities. There are various zero-day vulnerabilities that can affect your network. Software vendors are always checking their applications for zero-day vulnerabilities. They will release a security patch as soon as they find any vulnerability in their software. It is important to install these security patches as quickly as possible. This will help you in reducing the security risk. If all your applications are updated, then hackers can’t use old attacks for attacking your network. This will help you in avoiding data theft. Thus, you don’t need to worry about legal issues. But, security patches can’t protect from unknown vulnerabilities or zero-day attacks.

Improved Productivity

If you are using outdated software, then a computer crash will be more common. These outdated tools can also cause various network errors. This mostly occurs due to bugs in your software. These types of bugs can disrupt your business operations. A patched network will help you in reducing the downtime. Thus, it will help you in improving your network productivity. Patch management will help you in transforming the efficiency of your whole business.

Security Compliance

Due to the increase in data breaches, there are various security regulations that you need to follow. Healthcare services, financial sectors, and government institutions are heavily regulated by the government. These companies generally deal with sensitive data. Thus, it is important to make sure that your data is secured. Other industries also need to deal with various security regulations and rules. If you are not following these security regulations, then you may end up paying huge legal penalties. Patch management will ensure that you are following these regulations.

Remote security

Most of the companies are hiring remote workers. According to a recent report, more than 70% of workers are working remotely for doing important tasks. Your employees can remotely work from any location in the world. They can do important work from their home also. But, they create various loopholes in your network. Your employees will use their home network for using business applications. Thus, it is important to make sure that your employee device is also updated. Patch management will ensure that your remote workplace is also using updated devices. This will protect your data from attackers.

Innovation

Technology is rapidly changing with time. Developers are adding new features to their tools. Thus, it is important to install patches in your network. These patches will ensure that you can use all the new features. Also, they will ensure that your network is protected from hackers. Patch management will help you in improving your services without even buying new tools.

Conclusion

Patch management is very important for most of the businesses. It will ensure that all your systems are up to date. Thus, it will reduce the chance of data and security breaches. It will also help you in increasing the productivity of your company. There are various security regulations that you need to follow. If you are using patch management, then you don’t need to worry about all these regulations. Patch management will also help you in improving your existing tools. If you need more security tips, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™ services and solutions in how we can help your business.