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Why Free Patch Management Tools Could Cost You More
Selecting the Right Solution can Save Your Company Timeand Money
By KACE & Lumension
W H I T EP A P E R
Why Free Patch Management Tools Could Cost You MoreCopyright © 2009 Lumension and KACE Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why Free Patch Management Tools CouldCost You More
Introduction.................................................................................................................... 3
Point Patching versus Complete Patch Management........................................................ 3
The Hidden Costs and Missing Capabilities of WSUS Point Patching Product.................... 4
Microsoft OS and Applications Only ............................................................................. 4
Requires Additional Point Products even for Windows-only Environments.................... 4
Cannot Consolidate Operations.................................................................................... 5
Does Not Satisfy Regulatory Compliance Requirements............................................... 5
Poor Discovery of Unmanaged Assets.......................................................................... 6
Requires Domain Membership..................................................................................... 6
Poor System Software and Hardware Inventory........................................................... 6
Cannot Manage System Configurations........................................................................ 6
Overall Higher Labor and Product Costs ...................................................................... 7
Comprehensive Patch Management Solution is the Right Solution................................... 7
KBOX™ Security Audit and Enforcement Module.......................................................... 8
Configuring and Scheduling Patches............................................................................ 9
Patch Management and Deployment ........................................................................... 9
Tracking and Reporting............................................................................................... 9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................10
Why Free Patch Management Tools Could Cost You MoreCopyright © 2009 Lumension and KACE Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Introduction
Today’s current economic situation underscores the importance of scrutinizing allbusiness expenses, particularly within IT. As organizations look to keep operatingexpenses down, “free” technology solutions start to look more attractive. However, whenchoosing a solution for patching your systems and servers, it is important to consider thetotal cost of ownership (TCO) and the difference in key capabilities between pointpatching products and comprehensive patch management solutions. Although pointpatching products, such as Microsoft’s Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) maylook more attractive on the surface, closer inspection often reveals hidden costs andmissing capabilities. These solutions ultimately could end up costing organizations moremoney in the end to fully protect their IT environments. Microsoft’s WSUS lack of scalability, coverage and flexibility could leave organizations with fragmented patchmanagement and weaker security posture while also being a more costly andcumbersome option for organizations to maintain.
Point Patching versus Complete Patch Management
Point patching products such as WSUS solve very specific problems, but a majordrawback to this free utility is that WSUS doesn’t support non-Windows systems andthird party applications. Furthermore, solutions like WSUS do not consolidate norcentralize the management of mixed systems and applications, patch deployments andmaintenance tools nor do they have the ability to discover blind spots that are not beingmanaged. The result is a point product with a fragmented approach to vulnerabilitymanagement and lack of visibility of the overall patching and risk posture. Theunanswered needs for the organization to manage third party applications and operatingsystems often force the use of multiple disparate tools as well as consume largequantities of staff resources. A better choice is a complete Patch Management Solution which is comprised of morethan simply sending patches to Windows devices. Comprehensive Patch ManagementSolutions address the entire vulnerability management lifecycle:
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Automated discovery of all unmanaged and rogue devices on the network
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Full network scanning to determine vulnerabilities and exposures
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Rapid patching and remediation of all IT assets from a centralized managementconsole
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Policy enforcement of approved software installed on systems
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Ongoing validation and maintenance of correct patch and configuration levels onsystems
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Robust management and reporting
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