If your company uses Microsoft products, like Windows operating systems, you’re probably familiar with Patch Tuesday. Even if you’ve never heard of it, you’re probably very familiar with the frequent patches and updates that Microsoft dispatches.
These patches play a crucial role in keeping company endpoints and systems safe. No matter how many IT employees are on the team or how much infrastructure you have to maintain, testing and deploying these patches at speed and scale presents a challenge. However, deploying patches efficiently and safely plays a critical role in protecting your company.
Patch Management for Microsoft Systems
Microsoft patch management, also known as Windows patch management, is the management and deployment of Windows updates, bug fixes, and security patches. Continuous patching helps ensure your IT environment — from the endpoints to the servers — is secure and runs as efficiently as possible.
Microsoft releases patches and updates for various reasons, including:
- Compliance. Regularly installing critical updates and other patches ensures your operating systems comply with industry standards and government regulations.
- Improves performance. Patching helps ensure your devices run smoothly and efficiently, reducing performance strain and the likelihood of crashing while extending the service life of endpoints.
- Reduces costs. Endpoints that run smoothly are less likely to require emergency intervention or replacement, reducing the cost of repairs and replacement, not to mention lost productivity while the end user is without their device.
- Increases security. Regular and proactive patching – particularly when it comes to critical updates — reduces the risk your system is hacked or your data is compromised due to unpatched security vulnerabilities.
However, one of the biggest reasons to have a Windows patch management program in place is to reduce the odds your operating systems are breached in a zero-day attack. Microsoft notes that most attacks that damage a system happen when attackers exploit a known vulnerability that hasn’t been patched.
Types of Microsoft Patches
Microsoft releases security patches for its operating system and apps on a regular schedule. This is known as “Patch Tuesday,” but additional updates, called “out-of-band updates,” can be released at any time, especially when there’s a serious security threat.
There are different types of Windows patches, all of which protect your system. These patches may come as a group of updates (a service pack) or as individual updates that are rolled out as they become available.
Security Updates
Security updates fix known security vulnerabilities and protect your system from hacks and other security breaches. These patches are ranked from low severity to critical, allowing you to decide how crucial a patch is and how quickly it should be deployed.
Feature Updates
Feature updates introduce new functionalities and enhancements to the Windows operating system. They are generally large updates that may include changes in how the system looks as well as new security features.
Driver Updates
Driver updates are non-security patches that focus on improving endpoint performance. Device drivers allow your software and hardware components to communicate, and these updates improve compatibility and stability across the device.
Windows Patch Management Software and Tools
Though patches can be deployed and applied manually, using a Windows patch management software or tool allows you to automate patch management, helping the team streamline patch deployment and minimize errors. Many Windows patch management tools also have built-in reporting, monitoring, and analytics, allowing the team to monitor the patch management process.
Microsoft’s Legacy Patch Management Tool: Windows Service Update Services
Microsoft’s built-in patch management tool was Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). It’s a free patch manager that deploys Windows patches to endpoints. While WSUS is still around and actively used by some organizations, it’s being phased out in favor of newer patching tools, like Microsoft Endpoint Manager and Windows Update for Business. Due to this shift, any company building new patch management strategies is advised to skip WSUS in favor of one of the new tools.
If your company currently uses WSUS patch management to deploy software or security updates, it still functions and can be a good option if you need a basic or low-cost patching solution. The tool provides some reporting and insights and installs an update only where necessary, meaning it won’t install a patch or update on a device that doesn’t need it. However, WSUS lacks many of the automation, targeting, and real-time visibility features found in more modern patch management tools. What’s more, while Microsoft will push updates and ensure WSUS continues working, it’s no longer evolving the product, meaning WSUS won’t receive any new features or functionalities going forward.
Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Microsoft Endpoint Manager is Microsoft’s paid patch management tool. Formerly called System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), Endpoint Manager combines SCCM with Microsoft Intune, giving IT more flexibility in control over how and when to deploy patches. Though WSUS is being phased out, Endpoint Manager can still be used in the background to deploy updates.
Configuration Manager automates the patching process and allows the team to monitor things from a central dashboard. For example, Configuration Manager supports staged deployments, where patches are deployed in rings or waves, first to a small group of pilot devices before the patches are released across the organization. What’s more, teams can use Configuration Manager to deploy updates and patches to any company-owned or BYOD device that uses Windows systems.
Windows Update for Business
Window Update for Business (WUfB, pronounced “WOOF-be”) is a native, cloud-based patching solution. It integrates with Microsoft Intune and allows IT to control how and when software updates and patches are deployed without WSUS or on-premises infrastructure. Using WUfB, the team can set a deferral period to prevent immediate deployment of a new patch, create deployment rings, and install updates during a set time frame (like during off-peak hours).
Windows Autopatch
Windows Autopatch is a fully automated patching service that, for some users, is included as part of WUfB. In some respects, Windows Autopatch is a managed service that automatically deploys and installs patches and updates across devices as well as pauses or rolls back bad updates. While your IT team configures Autopatch, Microsoft handles the deployment (and rollback) of patch deployment and installation, freeing the team up for other tasks.
Third-Party Patch Managers
Third-party patch management software often has more advanced features than Microsoft’s tools. For example, one of the limitations of using Microsoft’s tools is that they don’t generally offer support for third-party applications. These often have to be configured and updated separately from Microsoft’s updates, creating more work for the team. Most third-party patch managers support Microsoft products and many third-party applications.
Windows Patch Management Challenges
Though an automated Windows patch management solution can speed the patching process considerably, all Windows patch management programs face similar challenges.
Numerous Patches
Nicknamed “Patch Tuesday,” Microsoft regularly releases Windows patches on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. The second Tuesday release often contains multiple updates and patches. Microsoft also has an annual feature update in the second half of the calendar year and periodically releases out-of-band updates to patch recent and critical vulnerabilities.
The frequency of releases and the volume of updates and Windows patches make it difficult to deploy all of them as quickly as possible. Between testing every patch to ensure it functions properly and prioritizing which patches should be deployed first, it becomes difficult to ensure every update is deployed and applied efficiently and at scale.
Broken Patches and Compatibility Issues
While it’s rare, some Windows patches are broken from the start, while others are incompatible with your current configurations. Once the patch is deployed and installed, it can break your system, creating service outages and downtime.
Because this is a known issue, IT can plan for it, but it requires thorough testing before patch deployment and the ability to roll back an update if problems are later identified. All of this takes time, which decreases how quickly patches are rolled out.
Lack of Visibility
Not all Windows patch management tools give your IT team the insight and visibility it needs to deploy and manage patching effectively. This limited visibility can result in some endpoints missing critical security patches, increasing your attack surface and leaving your network vulnerable.
As an example, companies with remote or hybrid workforces may have difficulty managing endpoints that aren’t connected to the corporate network. These devices might miss a scheduled update or critical security patch, and some cloud-based tools (like WUfB) may not be able to bring these devices into compliance.
Best Practices for Windows Patch Management
Applying Windows patches quickly reduces your attack surface. A robust patch management policy and processes give your team the tools and steps they need to prioritize, test, and deploy patches with speed and at scale.
Timing
Since most Microsoft patches are released on Tuesday, your patch management strategies should be built around those release dates. The team can schedule their testing and patch deployment accordingly, which gives them time to find a workaround in case the patch is broken.
Any policy should also include procedures for testing and implementing out-of-band patches as quickly as possible.
Prioritization
Microsoft rates the importance of a patch and the severity of a vulnerability on a scale of low to critical. As a rule, critical patches should be pushed first to patch potential or known vulnerabilities. However, what may be critical or crucial to Microsoft may not be as critical to your company.
Internally, your patch management policy should explain how IT determines which patches are deployed to help explain to people outside of IT how the team arrived at its decision.
Manual and Automated Patching
Most Windows patch management processes include manual and automated patching solutions to balance the time the team spends monitoring patch status and attending to other equally important tasks.
Automating some patch management tasks streamlines the patching process. However, it’s best used for routine patches that aren’t mission-critical and have been through an extensive manual or automated testing process.
Critical or out-of-band patches are better suited for manual patching. This allows the team to focus their efforts on testing patches and rapid deployment of critical fixes.
Phase Deployment
Deploying a patch or update to every device at the same time seems efficient — especially if you’ve tested the update before rolling it out. Even the most robust testing process can miss the occasional bug that causes problems later on, but if every device already has the buggy update, IT has to fix the problem across every device.
Phased deployment reduces the risk that every device is impacted by a bad update. Instead of rolling out the update to every endpoint, IT rolls it out to a few devices at a time, testing the update under real-world circumstances to see if there are any problems. If the update works, IT rolls it out to a few more devices, tests, and monitors until every device has the update. Taking time between deployments gives IT time to monitor devices for issues and either fix or roll back the update on a small number of devices, reducing the number of endpoints and users who are impacted by the bug.
Test and Monitor
Broken Windows patches cost your company, which is why testing patches in a controlled environment is a crucial step of the patch management process. However, it’s equally important to monitor the patch status and patching process to ensure patches are successfully deployed and installed. It also helps you identify any remediation needs or other issues that may occur during patch deployment.
Audits and Compliance
Regularly auditing the Windows patch management process ensures all endpoints and users comply with internal policies and external regulations. Educating end-users on the importance of Windows patch management ensures all endpoints are secured.
Adaptiva Automates Your Windows Patch Management
Patch management is crucial for maintaining your system’s security and functionality and ensures your company complies with industry standards and regulations. Creating an effective Windows patch management policy requires more than a patchwork approach.
Adaptiva’s patch management solution can help your company create a comprehensive patch management process that aligns with your security and configuration policies, ensures compliance across endpoints, and helps your IT team patch and update your Windows systems with ease. Contact us today and learn how Adaptiva can help your company patch and protect your systems.
