What is a Patch in Cybersecurity?

A security patch for Windows is something that not only IT professionals need to know about. Patches are something everyone in a business should understand. You should even understand the implications of security patches for your personal cybersecurity protection.

If you don’t apply patches when they become available, it creates considerable risk. A patch is a program fix that will eliminate a vulnerability that would otherwise potentially be exploited by a hacker.

The following are some of the more specific things to know about a cybersecurity patch.

An Overview of a Security Patch

A security patch is an update that often comes from a security developer to any device that needs the update. Delayed patch updates often come because a vulnerability or hole isn’t known or discovered before the software is released initially or before a big update is rolled out.

A security patch covers the holes in security that initially weren’t covered.

Usually, a security patch comes out after victims are already hacked due to the vulnerability. As soon as an engineer is alerted of a situation like this, they can update a patch.

If you don’t immediately install the patch or a network administrator doesn’t, the issue remains.

If you have initial software that has an available patch and you don’t update it, you’re creating a big potential issue for yourself.

Operating systems often include patches as well as user-installed and third-party software.

Along with finding vulnerabilities following a cyberattack, security researchers can also find them.

What Are Android Security Updates?

If you have an Android device, Android-specific security updates are often issued. These updates similar to general patches are meant to improve security and fix any bugs. You don’t usually get new features in an Android security update, at least not in the sense that you’d notice them.

Android typically gets one major version update every year, but it’s often not enough to keep up with threats and bugs, thus requiring more minor updates and patches.

Small updates on an Android device are critical to keep up with. They address any new vulnerabilities, and you don’t want to wait until there’s a full version update available because it can create a major security risk for your device.

To check for an Android security update, you can navigate to Security Status.

What Is a Patch Management Process?

For employers and organizations, it’s important to have a relatively formalized patch management process in place. A patch management process should include steps for identification, acquisition, installation, and verification of patches for individual products and systems.

There are regulatory guidelines guiding patch management in some industries. For example, if HIPAA regulates you, there are certain patch management compliance requirements you have to follow.

During the evaluation phase of a patch management process, there’s a determination of whether a given patch applies to the systems and software of the covered entity.

Patch testing looks at the patch on one system first to ensure it doesn’t cause issues.

Then, approval means that after testing, the patch is approved for other uses. Deployment is the application of the patches on live systems.

Then, finally, the process includes verification and testing to make sure the application was made appropriately and there weren’t any unforeseen problems or effects.

Why Are Patches Important?

As we touched on, security patches are an important way to protect against a hacker exploiting a known vulnerability. A hacker could otherwise use personal data from a system to gain access to another. For example, if you use the same credentials across accounts, and a hacker gets through one, they can gain access to all the others.

How Do You Check for Windows Updates?

If you have a device running Windows, you can manually check to make sure you’re using all available updates.

Typically, if you have a device running Windows 10, it will check for updates automatically and then install them when you restart your computer. If you’re still concerned you might be missing something, you can go to the Update & Security menu and check to make sure you’re utilizing any bug fixes or new features.

If your computer isn’t functioning correctly, you should check for updates, especially if you haven’t restarted it lately.

In a business environment, there is often the use of various software that helps with security patch updates.

A network administrator can use these tools to install updates to all systems in a network automatically when they’re released.