As part of a proactive cybersecurity strategy, all software must be current across all assets. This also includes installing fixes to fix security flaws. Due to the removal of out-of-date software versions, this procedure reduces risk. Is patching now a general-purpose cybersecurity solution?
Although patching is a crucial part of cybersecurity, it must be used in conjunction with other security techniques. Firewalls, antivirus programmes, and employee security risk awareness training are a few of these. It's interesting to note that 26% of vulnerabilities for 2022 had known exploits, according to the most current X-Force Threat Intelligence Index. The fraction of known exploits has decreased in recent years, according to data collected from the early 1990s to the present, underscoring the efficiency of patch management procedures.
The Difference Between Vulnerability and Patch Management
The first step in effective patch management is vulnerability identification. Since they exist in almost every piece of software, it may appear as though there is a tsunami of potential compromises. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reported over 23,000 new vulnerabilities in 2022; more than 17,000 of those vulnerabilities were deemed significant.
Sometimes, security professionals are unable to immediately fix vulnerabilities. As a result, a lot of organisations are sitting on a huge backlog of vulnerabilities. Ineffective remediation will allow vulnerabilities to persist and expose enterprises to risk. It's crucial to take vulnerability management on, and it is doable. Organizations must take precautions against vulnerabilities as well; simply identifying them is not enough.
Patch management, a part of vulnerability management, gives businesses an automated way to install software updates released by vendors to fix security flaws. Automatic patch management methods can highlight the patches that are available, but they may not always match the seriousness of known vulnerabilities. In order to discover major vulnerabilities and apply security fixes on a regular basis, patch management also requires clearly established policies and procedures.
Software Industry Security Patching Improvements
When it comes to releasing updates for security vulnerabilities, the software industry has made great advancements in recent years. Bigger businesses have had to take a more aggressive approach to finding and fixing product vulnerabilities. These businesses have a number of tools at their disposal, such as established bug bounty programmes, to hasten the creation of security updates. They can react more swiftly thanks to innovations and efficient processes. Customers who are in charge of installing these security updates on their systems don't usually react as quickly.
Remediating critical vulnerabilities typically takes 60 days. This is a lot longer than it takes for attackers to start using freshly found vulnerabilities (typically 15 days). Attackers frequently profit from the pause between discovery and correction. Prioritizing vulnerabilities according to their potential impact is crucial because not all vulnerabilities are significant. In order to lower the risk of compromise overall, security teams can concentrate on patching the most serious vulnerabilities first.
The process of finding vulnerabilities, prioritising them, and fixing them never ends. Patch analytics are a feature of some automated patch management technologies that can reduce the time needed to guarantee that fixes are implemented in a timely way in accordance with vulnerability severity.
Addressing Software and Equipment End-of-Life
A crucial component of risk management is being aware of the condition of all assets. Older assets may conceal vulnerabilities, raising environmental security threats. Software and equipment may occasionally become impossible to patch. They can be past their prime and no longer supported by the vendor, or they might just be unable to be modified to function with current networking and security protocols. Attackers frequently take advantage of flaws in old, out-of-date software.
According to the 2023 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, some older, unpatched equipment still had ransomware outbreaks from three to five years ago. Long after the initial infestation, these equipment were unattended.
There are ways available to secure software that has passed its end-of-life, depending on the programme manufacturer. Software updates and security patches can continue for a set amount of time after the programme hits end-of-life thanks to an extended warranty or a comparable provision offered by some providers. This is obviously not a long-term fix. Yet, it may offer businesses a little more time to consider their alternatives.
Further hazards to the organisation come from unpatched assets that can no longer be updated. It's critical to evaluate the potential dangers of prolonged use over the long term. To guarantee the integrity of the remainder of the system, NIST advises a routine evaluation of these assets. Segmenting or micro-segmenting these unpatched assets from the rest of the network can offer some protection from potential compromise if replacement is not currently an option.
Replacement can be the only other choice if mitigation techniques fall short of addressing the dangers posed by unpatched assets. It's crucial to periodically compare the costs and benefits of continuing to mitigate vs totally replacing impacted assets.
The Future of Vulnerability and Patch Management
Security has made patching a need. A thorough vulnerability and patch management approach reduces exploitable vulnerabilities by effectively managing patches. With CISA's release of the Stakeholder-Specific Vulnerability Categorization (SSVC) system, which generates machine-readable reports outlining vulnerabilities and severity and should hasten the time for remediation, vulnerability management is on track to become more manageable. Organizations may concentrate on the vulnerabilities with the highest severity thanks to this new, unified approach. Automated tools were considered during the system's creation. Current cybersecurity-related legislation will alter how businesses approach patch and vulnerability management.
A software bill of materials (SBOM), which must include explicit information about the origins of different components of the product, is one of the requirements of the recently released Executive Order 14028, "Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity." This requirement, which is intended to increase transparency about dependencies and known vulnerabilities to safeguard the software supply chain, may also be useful in other contexts besides government software procurement. Given the types of vulnerabilities present, a thorough SBOM can assist businesses in determining the long-term maintenance needed for a software component that requires a lot of repair over time or is particularly attack-prone.
Both software vulnerabilities and the patches that fix them aren't going away any time soon. Patch administration will continue to be crucial to cybersecurity. The time needed to remediate dangerous software could be much shortened in the future because of advancements in vulnerability management, more open disclosures in an SBOM, institutionalised bug reward schemes, and other breakthroughs in the software industry.