Patch management is vital for maintaining system security and stability. It keeps systems, apps, and endpoints up to date, ensuring they have the latest in security and features. Yet small patch management mistakes can have big consequences.
Errors in patching can expose organizations to vulnerabilities, IT compliance risks, and operational downtime, any of which could spell disaster. With that in mind, let’s look at some common patch management mistakes, what causes them, and how they can be avoided.
The Key Causes of Patch Management Errors
First, we need to understand what patch management errors are and what causes them. Patch management errors are flaws or failures during the patch installation process, including incomplete installations, skipped patch updates, missed endpoints, compatibility issues, and other problems that can prevent a patch from being properly installed.
These can often be small oversights, like forgetting to update a device or indefinitely postponing an update. But those mistakes can still have a significant impact on businesses and escalate into major security risks.
Causes of patch management errors include:
Inconsistent patching schedules, which can leave devices unpatched and vulnerable to attack.
Human error leading to skipped patches or missed devices.
Installation errors when downloading or deploying patches.
Compatibility issues with other apps or software.
Flawed patch deployment or scheduling that leads to incomplete patching.
A lack of visibility into patch statuses that leads to missed or incomplete patching.
How to Measure Patching Success and Efficiency
If patch management errors can have such a negative impact, then how can businesses measure success? Several key metrics can show success and efficiency, which IT teams should track when evaluating the effectiveness of their patch strategies.
Key metrics include:
Patching timelines: How long does it take to roll out new patches? Tracking this metric helps ensure you’re deploying patches promptly and minimizing the time devices are left vulnerable.
Success rates: How many patches are successfully applied? If there are any issues with the patch deployment process, tracking the success rate will inform you and help identify devices that need the patches reinstalled.
Coverage: How many systems and applications are covered by your patch management process? The higher your coverage rate, the more complete your protection is and the less manual patching your IT teams will have to do.
Speed: How quickly can you deploy patches for critical vulnerabilities, and how much time passes between the discovery of a vulnerability and its patching? Understanding this metric is crucial for ensuring that you patch your devices as quickly as possible, while also complying with relevant IT compliance standards and regulations.
Downtime: How much time is lost to patching? Deploying patches in the middle of the workday can lead to downtime and lost productivity, so tracking this metric helps identify how well you’re balancing security and continuity.
5 Patch Management Mistakes That Put Systems at Risk
Next, we need to understand what common patch management mistakes businesses should be aware of. Understanding these key mistakes and their causes can help businesses avoid them, ensuring a more complete and efficient patching process.
1. Delayed Patching
Delaying updates leaves devices vulnerable, and it’s easy to keep putting off the patch until it’s too late. This is why proper patch management and scheduling are important, as they can help ensure that patches are installed at a convenient time, without interrupting work or causing delays.
2. Skipping Patch Verification
While patches are designed to provide improved security and new features, there’s always the chance that they’ll have unexpected side effects or interact poorly with other software. Testing and verifying patches is an essential part of the patch management process, as it helps ensure that patches don’t cause any unforeseen issues or crashes.
3. No Pre-Patch Backups
What happens if a patch does go wrong? Rolling back to a pre-patched state is important for repairing damage, but that requires backups. If you neglect to back up your devices and the patch causes unexpected problems, you’ll risk losing data and progress after loading an earlier backup.
4. Irregular Timing
Patches should be installed as soon as possible, so if you have inconsistent, irregular patching schedules, you risk leaving devices exposed. Real-time patch management helps ensure you’re aware as soon as a new patch becomes available so you can quickly test and deploy it, minimizing the time devices spend vulnerable.
5. Faulty Deployment
Patch deployment should consist of scheduled and phased rollouts to ensure proper testing and minimal interruptions. A rushed rollout can lead to unforeseen errors on a large scale, downtime across an organization, and multiple disruptions. While it is important to install patches quickly, it’s also essential not to rush them. Instead, deploy patches in rings for testing and during times when they’ll cause minimal interruptions.
Proven Strategies to Eliminate Patch Failures
Fortunately, patch failures are not inevitable. There are ways to mitigate failures and help ensure a successful patch deployment process, including:
1. Prioritize Timely Application Using Automated Patching Solutions
Delayed or skipped patching is one of the biggest causes of failure, but an automated patching solution can ensure patches are tested and deployed promptly. A good automated patching tool can detect new patches, schedule updates, and roll them out in rings to provide time for testing and verification.
2. Strong Patch Verification in Staging Environments
Testing patches before deploying them can help avoid unforeseen issues. Start small, with a select few devices, and check for any compatibility issues, crashes, or other problems. From there, you can install the patch to a larger group of devices and test again, before deploying patches throughout your organization. This staged process helps ensure proper patch verification throughout the rollout.
3. Robust Roll Back Strategy With Secure, Encrypted Storage
If patching goes wrong, you want to be able to minimize the damage. Keeping secure, encrypted backups is key, as it ensures you can roll back to a pre-patch state without losing any valuable data or work progress. A robust backup strategy is important not just for patching, but for data security and business continuity whenever disaster recovery is necessary.
4. Consistent Patching Schedules and Regular Audits
A consistent patching schedule is essential for securing networks and endpoints. Make sure you check for updates and patches regularly, as well as audit your patch management practices to ensure you’re keeping up with patches across your endpoints and applications.
5. Optimize Deployment With Phased Rollouts, Off-Peak Patching, and Trained IT Staff
Timing is everything, especially for patch deployment. Setting a strategy for timing your rollouts and reducing downtime will help ensure you’re patching every endpoint with minimal disruptions. This includes scheduling patches during off-peak hours, ring-based deployment, and training your IT staff to ensure they have the tools and knowledge they need for effective patch management.
From Reactive to Proactive: The Future of Patching
Patch management should be a proactive process, where new patches are rolled out to address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. If you wait until your network is under attack before patching, you’re already far too late.
Cybercriminals and hackers are always on the hunt for new vulnerabilities to exploit. Fortunately, cybersecurity teams are also looking for vulnerabilities so they can patch them before they can be exploited. This proactive approach helps keep devices and endpoints secure, but only if end-users consistently install the patches when they become available.
A forward-looking strategy is necessary for keeping endpoints, networks, and apps secure, which means identifying vulnerabilities and installing patch updates to address them as quickly and efficiently as possible. Doing so can strengthen security, reduce costs, and minimize disruptions.
Splashtop Automated Patch Management: Fewer Failures, Faster Fixes
Patch management is vital for security and business continuity, but it can often be neglected. Ensuring consistent, efficient, and reliable patch management requires a solution like Splashtop AEM (Autonomous Endpoint Management). Splashtop AEM provides real-time, automated patching across Windows, macOS, and third-party applications, powered by AI-driven CVE insights and policy-based automation..
Splashtop AEM’s patch management solution helps streamline patching with real-time updates and CVE-based vulnerability insights. This helps ensure patches are prioritized, validated, and deployed across endpoints, keeping everything up to date and secure.
Additionally, you can use Splashtop AEM to create customized, policy-based patching strategies. This helps control your patch deployments, so they’re fully tested and rolled out in a manner that suits your business best. All the while, IT teams can monitor patch statuses and compliance from a single dashboard, providing a clear overview of patches across endpoints.
Splashtop AEM gives IT teams the tools and technology they need to monitor endpoints, proactively address issues, and reduce their workloads. This includes:
Automated patching for OS, third-party, and custom apps.
AI-powered CVE-based vulnerability insights.
Customizable policy frameworks.
Hardware and software inventory tracking and management.
Alerts and remediation to automatically resolve issues before they become problems.
Background actions to access tools like task managers and device managers without interrupting users.
Ready to make patch management simple and effective while managing all your remote endpoints? Get started with a free trial of Splashtop AEM today:
