What Is Patch Management?

 By Charles Joseph | Cybersecurity Advocate

 Last update: November 25, 2023

Patch management is a process for identifying, acquiring, installing, and verifying patches (code changes) for software products. The goal of patch management is to ensure that relevant patches are identified, obtained, and installed in a timely manner to minimize any potential negative impact on the organization’s information systems.

Key Points

• Patch management is the process of identifying, acquiring, installing, and verifying patches for software products.
• An effective patch management strategy can help organizations reduce vulnerabilities, improve security and compliance posture, and save time and money.
• A key component of an effective patch management strategy has a robust testing process in place to ensure that patches do not introduce new vulnerabilities or break existing functionality.
• Organizations should also have a plan in place for dealing with unpatched systems, such as isolating them from the network or implementing workarounds.