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A survey of IT professionals undertaken last year showed more than half of them struggle to keep up with patch management. Because of the sheer volume of updates, more than 60% reported they sometimes have difficulties knowing which patches need to be applied to which system, leading to confusion over whether or not the system was vulnerable.
What is a patch?
Computer coding is inherently insecure. It’s often written by multiple people, and quite often code is reused, all of which means that, inevitably, holes will appear, leaving the entire system open to hackers. A patch is the extra code created to repair the hole which users can install via updates.
Who finds the holes?
Hackers are divided into two groups: White Hat Hackers and Black Hat Hackers (it’s a cowboy thing). Both groups are looking for unpatched holes, but the difference is that the Black Hats are searching for them with malicious intent. As soon as the White Hats – who are either professional hackers or hobbyists – find a vulnerability in a system, they will inform the vendor, giving them the chance to create a patch before the Black Hats find the hole and exploit it.
White Hat Hackers will also produce vulnerability reports called CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), partly to encourage the vendor to take action on the hole and partly to share the information (and partly to ensure everyone knows who they are).
Why is patch management such a problem?
Basically, people become overwhelmed with the number of patches being released and the number of platforms they apply to. The easiest to manage are the Microsoft patches as their latest updates are released altogether on the second Tuesday of every month and cover all of their products; although in 2015, Microsoft still had to release 535 patches. Other companies, like Adobe, iTunes etc, produce separate updates for each of their products and release them immediately. This sometimes means that patches are being released on a daily basis.
If your IT department consists of just one or two members of staff, they could easily end up spending all their time managing patches. If they don’t have access to expensive automated distribution tools, their entire time could be taken up installing updates and making sure they have been installed on every computer in the building.
Why should patch management be outsourced?
Patch management is a mundane and time-consuming process. Without the advantage of automated distribution tools, IT departments struggle to keep up with the quantity of patches being released all the time. Often, patch management ends up being neglected, leaving the system ever more vulnerable. In addition, there are sometimes problems with the patches which have been known to cause system failure, meaning even more headaches for over-stretched IT staff.
Given the amount of time patch management takes, outsourcing it makes sense. Outsourced IT companies have the advantage of economies of scale and can not only automate the process, but also spend time testing the updates before updating clients’ systems.
At Lumina Technologies, we review all the CVEs to understand what is being patched and why. We will always spend a few days testing the patches in our laboratory, closely monitoring the results before installing the patches on to our clients’ systems. We will then run reports to ensure that all the patches are properly installed on all their computers.
If you would like to know more about outsourcing patch management or any of our IT outsourced services, including our Virtual CIO service, contact us to arrange an appointment.
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Luke Harrison
Keidan Harrison LLP
Lumina have supported us so well through the difficult circumstances of 2020. They worked extremely hard to ensure we were able to work remotely and continue to operate our business successfully. The support team are very friendly and knowledgeable, and have excellent response times.
The team have also enhanced our cyber security which is so important in the legal sector, and they continue to provide high quality advice to help us move forward with our IT goals.
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Managing Partner, Adams & Remers LLP
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Martin David
Technical Director, Trap Oil Group plc
Richard and his team are a real inspiration to anyone who meets them and I have watched Lumina’s growth over the last few years with interest and admiration. Richard has been an amazing supporter of the Hospice of St Francis, being a Gold member of the Corporate Partner Network for almost two years. He takes an active interest in the community and is passionate about his company and his town: nothing is too much trouble, he is always willing to help, to give up his time and to provide business advice when asked. Lumina is an inspiration to any company wanting to set up business in Hertfordshire.
Carolyn Addison
Corporate Fundraising Manager, The Hospice of St Francis
Lumina Technologies Prism Hosted Desktop has allowed our business to centralise our global corporate data, allowing much faster access for all our staff – regardless of their location. We have also been able to simplify and reduce our infrastructure and management overhead. With the new Prism Hosted Desktop solution all staff now have simple and secure access to corporate data using any device they choose. Prism Hosted Desktop has increased the productivity of our staff and given us a single, consistent and familiar experience for all users from any device, in any location, 24/7.
Katherine Roe
Chief Executive Officer, Wentworth Resources PLC
The commercially sensitive and regulated nature of Lambert Energy Advisory’s business requires an IT provider able to maintain the highest levels of integrity and confidentiality, Lumina Technologies has consistently been unimpeachable in this regard over the nine years we have employed them.
Patrick Agar
Lambert Energy Advisory
It has been a great pleasure working with Lumina Technologies over the past two years. They have fully committed to being involved in the local community with volunteering and with professional advice and commitment, helping many local charities along the way. As a growing company it proves that being involved in the local community is helping them attract and retain a talented workforce and I look forward to working with them well into the future.
Cindy Withey
Connect Dacorum
Hawkstone Management Services Ltd is a small company for which IT Outsourcing is realistically the only viable option. Lumina Technologies have successfully performed this role for over fifteen years. They also provide innovative solutions to keep pace with technological progress. I would have no hesitation in recommending Lumina to similar sized businesses.
Stephen Pembury
Hawkstone Management Services Ltd
Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP have been using Lumina Technologies for a number of years now and continue to be impressed by the technical know-how and contemporary knowledge of their senior management, who provide a timely, efficient and friendly service. Whether it is a small issue with one computer, or a strategic IT decision, they maintain a current knowledge of available technologies. Lumina are always at the other end of the phone to help resolve issues and minimise business interference. The technical knowledge of Richard and his senior team means that there has not been a problem that they can’t solve to date. I am sure we will continue to use them in the years to come.
Charles Douglas
Managing Partner, Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP
The team at Lumina Technologies have made the Amoun Travel & Tours office IT transition seamless and problem free. The office set-up has been vastly improved and the IT Support services are flawless. No issue goes unresolved, which is extremely reassuring.
Adam Helmy
Amoun Travel & Tours Ltd
Lumina Technologies has been Salamander Energy plc’s IT provider since start-up in 2005 and has supported us in London during our expansion across operational offices in SE Asia. Their professional approach, strategic advice and close co-operation have been essential in making this a success.
John Bell
Group Technical Director, Salamander Energy plc
Richard and his team at Lumina have provided Perrett Laver Limited with high quality strategic and practical IT Services for over ten years. During this period, Perrett Laver has grown from 10+ colleagues based in London to nearly 100 colleagues located in six offices across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. Richard and the Lumina team have not just been responsive to our ‘everyday’ IT needs, but have proactively sought to work with us on developing an infrastructure suitable for the type of operation we are today, and are planning to be months and years down the line. I would not hesitate to recommend Richard, especially for small to medium size business with growth in mind.
Clementine McKinley
COO, Perrett Laver Limited
Society Limited has been supported by Lumina Technologies since our earliest start-up phase. From large logistical challenges like an office move, through to smaller fiddly issues like fixing a faulty e-template, we know we can count on their support and advice. They’ve also been able to engage with us strategically on the challenge of scaling-up our infrastructure as the firm continues to grow and evolve. We always feel confident going to Lumina with a problem, since we know they genuinely care about sorting things out and helping us to get on with our core business.
Simon Lucas
Managing Director, Society Limited
The Vita Group HQ staff have worked with Richard McBarnet and Lumina Technologies for over 9 years, with Lumina providing all our PC, server, phone, and software support. The services have included C-level executives based in London, Manchester, the US, as well as supporting home office IT as well. The service provided and intellectual capabilities are outstanding and we would highly recommend Richard and his Lumina team.
Joe Menendez
CEO, The Vita Group
We worked with Lumina on a GDPR Audit. Richard was knowledgeable and professional throughout, and did the best he could to bring a dry topic to life through lots of real life examples and analogies. We were so impressed with the service Lumina provided and the value we got from partnering with them on this project – we couldn’t recommend them enough.
Holly Cottingham, Vintec Laboratories
We’ve been so well supported by Paige and the Lumina team. They’ve been highly professional, very responsive, friendly, supportive. It’s really validated the decision to engage an IT partner, and we’re glad it’s with Lumina.
Bruce Storey
Chief Operating Officer, Estu Global Ltd
