Ensuring effective patch management in the WFH (Working from Home) era

Covid-19 has caught many companies off guard from a security perspective.

Employees are no longer under the watchful eye of IT and security teams at a time when security threats are increasing from malicious actors seeking to take advantage of the pandemic. With so much to do already, IT and security teams need to ensure that vulnerability management remains top of mind and that they do all they can to make the process as seamless as possible.

Coping with difficulties in remote working

Working remotely is always a challenge in terms of IT support and security. With employees connecting to a company's network using a multitude of methods and devices, cracks can soon appear in a secure facade, giving cybercriminals the opportunity to access valuable company data, disrupt services or hold those services or data to ransom. 

Due to the sudden shift to WFH (Work from Home), security professionals have been faced with 2 main challenges in the last few months:

VPN

Many patch management solutions—including Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager ( SCCM) —have limitations when it comes to remote patching, as they must communicate with an on-premises infrastructure to perform a centralized update. IT teams will need to devote time and resources to shaping traffic VPN to enable updates through it. However, even when this is achieved, bandwidth VPN will be saturated by update traffic, resulting in delays or downtime for employees trying to continue their work remotely. 

Redesigning the patching process and forcing each system to obtain updates directly from the updates Windows, for example, can reduce the impact on bandwidth at VPN, but result in a loss of control and visibility for IT teams regarding patches in their environment, which could compromise network security. 

BYOD

Companies that were not prepared or set up for remote work before it was implemented may now be facing the sudden and drastic shift to a “bring your own device” (BYOD). Some companies have been adopting BYOD for years, but for those that haven’t, the challenges of adopting it overnight may seem overwhelming. These companies must now deal with access to corporate data from countless personal devices beyond their control. 

Away from the wider security threats this brings, how can IT and security teams ensure that patches are managed effectively on these devices without the oversight that desktop environments enjoy?

Coping with the present and preparing for future challenges

Fortunately, companies can implement solutions to address many of the challenges associated with remote patching—hybrid and web-based patch management solutions cloud, such as those offered by Lambert Consulting —including Microsoft Intune or Co-Management Intune / SCCM. Hybrid options can ensure that off-network agents can report back to their on-site management console. These agents use cloud to retrieve policy updates and send back results, but will obtain the necessary updates directly from the vendor’s download center. Most importantly, this saves valuable VPN bandwidth and ensures consistent reporting for these devices to help IT professionals continue to manage them properly. Vendors also facilitate remote patching by extending licenses to cover the BYOD, which will help businesses manage and ensure compliance and security in the short term.

Many companies are focused on staying afloat in the current global climate and therefore cannot afford to overhaul their IT processes at this time. However, in the long term, they should seek to incorporate hybrid support and cloud to all their vendor checklists—from system management tool suites to troubleshooting tools and security solutions. Those who were unprepared for this shift to remote work will benefit from this forward-looking approach in the future, as there is still uncertainty about when—or even if—companies will return to their traditional ways of working. IT and security teams must therefore ensure that they can support all systems—including those on the corporate network and in user environments—and from on-premises data centers to cloud public and private data centers.

Of course, while patching is the foundation of any security strategy, companies should never rely on it alone to protect their networks. In the age of telecommuting, where security threats can come from a multitude of new angles, it has never been more important to take a layered approach to cybersecurity. IT and security teams need to work together to ensure they have a comprehensive set of security initiatives in place in their environment, including: vulnerability management, privileged access management, application whitelisting, regular backups and employee training.

IT and security professionals face a multitude of new challenges as they continue to maintain remote environments and grapple with the uncertainty surrounding what the new world of work may bring. However, they must do everything in their power to ensure that remote patching processes run smoothly and in a timely manner. Combined with a layered approach to cybersecurity, the adoption of hybrid and cloud-based patch management systems cloud can mean the difference between success and failure in these unprecedented times.