Patch management is the systematic process of identifying, acquiring, installing, and verifying software updates (known as patches) to address security vulnerabilities and bugs and improve overall system performance.
This proactive approach serves as a defense for businesses against the persistent threats of cyberattacks, providing stable, efficient IT operations.
Beyond risk mitigation, a well-implemented patch management strategy offers numerous advantages, from bolstering security defenses to enhancing system reliability and reducing the likelihood of costly disruptions.
To help you maintain a safe and healthy IT environment, we’ll cover everything you need to know about patch management, including how it works, as well as its benefits, challenges, and best practices.
Why is Patch Management Important?
Patch management is a fundamental technique in combating cybercrime, a clear and present danger to all modern organizations. The scale of this danger is underscored by figures from the AV-TEST Institute, which records 450,000+ new malware variants daily. Furthermore, 1.35 billion cyberattack victim notices were recorded in 2024 alone.
Given the persistent and active targeting of unpatched assets by malicious actors, applying security patches becomes a critical step in closing down opportunities for criminals to exploit within your business.
This proactive measure is essential for preventing a range of cyberattacks, including ransomware, malware infections, data breaches, and Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. Besides strengthening security, patch management is also important to fix bugs and improve system performance.
How Does Patch Management Work?
When vendors release software to upgrade security or fix bugs, these updates are commonly called “patches”. Patch management works by identifying, acquiring, testing, and applying these patches to computers, servers, and network devices.
Applying a patch achieves one or more of the following:
- Fixes known security vulnerabilities
- Resolve a bug(s)
- Improves asset performance
The patching process starts with scanning your systems to detect missing or outdated patches. Once necessary updates are detected, your security team or automated tools apply the latest software.
To ensure robust protection against emerging threats, effective patch management ensures the swift implementation of these updates. Other important considerations include:
- Testing patches before deployment to ensure they won’t introduce new issues
- Avoiding compatibility conflicts
- Scheduling patch rollouts to limit disruption to operations
After the update, patches are monitored to ensure they are successfully applied and haven’t caused complications.
Note: Patch management is not a one-time task but a continuous cycle. As new vulnerabilities emerge, the process repeats.
The Benefits of Patch Management
Let’s look at how a proper patch management strategy benefits your business.
- More secure environment: Continually sealing chinks in your defenses limits the routes to infiltrate and damage your operations. These proactive safeguards contribute to a stronger and more resilient overall security environment, which in turn builds trust with consumers, partners, and regulators.
- Avoiding financial loss: Every unpatched vulnerability acts as an open door for cyberattacks. A strong patch management process proactively identifies and closes these gaps, helping you avoid costly damages such as:
- Data breaches (costing organizations $4.88 million on average in 2024)
- Downtime and disruption
- Data restoration
- Infrastructure damage
- Reputational harm
- Lost business
- Possible penalties and fines from regulators
- Top software and system performance: Regular patching helps ensure software and systems run smoothly by fixing bugs and improving functionality. It keeps your technology stable and compatible with the latest technologies, while reducing the chance of crashes and downtime.
- Happy customers: Timely patching ensures customer-facing applications perform optimally, with limited downtime, errors, and delays. The result? Greater trust and satisfaction with your service.
- Satisfied regulators: Modern businesses must comply with a raft of industry and government regulations. Proactive patch deployment is an important part of protecting sensitive client data, and a disciplined patching approach makes it easier to meet challenging compliance requirements.
What Are The Challenges Of Patch Management?
Patch management sometimes throws up challenges. Typical complications include:
- Patch overload: The volume of patches released, especially for large and complex IT environments, can be difficult to keep a handle on. Maintaining accurate ongoing records can be equally challenging.
- Downtime: Applying security patches often requires you to shut down services. This impacts productivity and causes inconvenience to employees, customers, and suppliers.
- Remote and mobile devices: Ensuring remote and mobile devices are consistently patched poses some challenges. Firstly, scheduling patching across dispersed assets can be tricky. Not making matters any easier, remote devices are often not connected to the corporate network.
- Compatibility issues: Patches sometimes conflict with existing software or hardware, which can cause system problems or application failures. Additionally, rolling back a failed patch may entail urgent troubleshooting and restoring the system from backups, which means business disruption.
- Testing complexities: Thoroughly testing patches in a safe environment before deployment is crucial. However, this exercise can be time-consuming and divert resources from other critical tasks.
- Legacy systems and unsupported software: Vendors often stop releasing updates for older systems, leaving exposed vulnerabilities. Companies are then forced to live with the risk or invest in system replacements/upgrades.
Patch Management Lifecycle
The patch management lifecycle is a structured process to keep software and systems secure and up-to-date. Here are the six key stages in the lifecycle:
Inventory and identification: First, create a complete inventory of your devices, operating systems, and applications. Then, identify vulnerabilities and outdated software across these assets. Regular scanning and monitoring play a key role in detecting missing patches and gaps.
Prioritization: Once vulnerabilities are identified, they must be assessed and ranked based on the probability and severity of the risk. What is the likelihood of an attack occurring? How much damage will it cause? Prioritizing ensures that urgent threats are addressed swiftly while low-level risks can be scheduled for later.
Patch testing: Patches are tested in a controlled environment or on a small subset of systems before they’re applied. This ensures compatibility and that a newly deployed patch does not introduce complications.
Deploy patches: After successful testing, deployment is carefully planned, and patches are rolled out. Generally, this should be scheduled during off-peak hours to limit disruption. Backups are also recommended before patching to restore systems if the update causes issues or needs to be rolled back.
Verification: It’s essential to check that patches have been correctly installed and that weak points are now addressed. Verification involves testing functionality, security, and performance.
Monitoring and documentation: The lifecycle involves continuous monitoring to ensure that applied patches are effective. You must also remain vigilant about new vulnerabilities that arise as cyber threats evolve. A record of all your assets, updates, test results, and patching activity should be kept.
Patch Management Best Practices
Here are valuable best practices to include in patch management:
Establish a patch management policy
A clear policy forms the foundation of effective patch management. It should define:
- Scope and tools
- Roles and responsibilities
- Timelines
- Procedures and protocols
- Regular and emergency patching policies
Automate where possible
Use automated tools to execute the patching process. Automated patch management handles discovery, deployment, and monitoring more efficiently (and at scale). Plus, it reduces the risk of human error and ensures timely updates.
Centralized patch management
Look to centralize your patch management, which allows IT teams to monitor, deploy, and verify updates across all systems from a central hub. It brings several benefits:
- A consistent approach
- Reduced risk of missed patches
- Streamlines compliance
- Faster response times in an emergency
Prioritize patches
Assess the importance of patches based on the threats they address and the systems they impact. Apply security patches for mission-critical systems first.
Test before applying
Always test patches in a controlled environment before rolling them out across your network. This helps red-flag conflicts and other potential problems.
Pay attention to exceptions
Not all systems can be patched immediately. For systems that must delay patches for operational reasons, consider additional safeguards, such as stricter firewall rules and closer monitoring.
Address legacy systems
Legacy systems may no longer receive official updates. In such cases:
- Explore third-party patches or community-supported fixes
- Plan for an upgrade or replacement to mitigate long-term risks
- Isolate the resource as far as possible to limit a breach from infecting the larger network
Keep an inventory
Maintain a complete, accurate inventory of all hardware and software assets. You want to ensure no systems are overlooked during patching cycles.
Examples Of Patch Management
Here are a few widely recognized examples of patch management.
- Windows update for business: Microsoft regularly releases security and feature patches for Windows 10/11 and Windows Server. IT teams can use tools like Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or Microsoft Intune to manage when and how these patches are deployed across devices.
- Linux package managers: In Linux environments, patch management often involves using package managers to apply system updates.
- macOS software updates: Apple provides patch updates via its built-in Software Update mechanism. Admins can manage these updates in business settings using Apple Business Manager or tools like Jamf Pro.
- Third-party application updates: Many businesses manage patches for non-OS software like Chrome, Adobe Reader, or Zoom. They use tools like ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus or PDQ Deploy.
- Cloud infrastructure patching: Cloud platforms like AWS or Azure often provide patching tools or services to help maintain virtual machines and services. For example, AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager automates patching across EC2 instances.
- Security patch rollouts after a breach: Following a major vulnerability like Log4Shell, organizations rapidly deploy vendor-released patches to close critical security holes in Java-based systems.
Patch Management In Cybersecurity And Vulnerability Management
Cybersecurity agencies like the NIST and CISA strongly recommend that organizations have a robust patch management policy, considering it’s one of the most effective steps in strengthening cybersecurity defenses.
Patch management software and tools are only part of the puzzle, though. Patching is one element of a multi-layered security strategy. In particular, it’s a critical component of vulnerability management—a broader process to identify, prioritize, and contain security risks.
When vulnerability management tools uncover outdated software risks, patching protocols become a priority.

How Can Acrisure Cyber Services Help With Patch Management?
Acrisure Cyber Services offers expert patch management services to safeguard your business and improve operations. Here’s how we can assist:
- Customized solutions: We work closely with you to understand your unique needs and identify the right patch management software for your systems.
- Best practices: Our approach follows industry best practices, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines. This ensures top drawer security and professionalism.
- Centralized management: Acrisure Cyber Services helps you simplify the update process across all devices with centralized management. This saves time, delivers consistency, and enables rapid responses to security incidents.
- Leading-edge Technology: We employ the latest patch management tools, techniques, and technologies, including powerful AI and automation tools.
For over 20 years, Acrisure Cyber Services’s award-winning IT services have earned the trust of hundreds of clients, which has helped forge successful ongoing relationships with organizations of all sizes across the country.
Our full-spectrum managed security services and cybersecurity services are designed to shield you comprehensively from escalating cyber dangers.
FAQs
What types of patches are there?
Types of patches include security patches, bug fixes, feature updates (sometimes), and performance improvements. Some patches are urgent (e.g. zero-day fixes), while others are part of regular maintenance.
Can patches fix zero-day exploits?
Patches can fix zero-day exploits, but only after the vulnerability has been discovered and a fix is created. A zero-day exploit is a security flaw that is unknown to the software vendor. This weakness may be actively exploited before a patch exists. Once the vendor identifies the vulnerability, they urgently release a patch to resolve it.
What is another name for a security patch?
A security patch is also referred to as a bugfix, security update, or hotfix. Larger fixes are often called software updates or service packs.