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“Patch management is, by far, the biggest problem” in keeping systems secure, declared Microsoft Strategic Technology Director Brett Arsenault at the IT security conference hosted this week in Boise by Washington Group International.
“Its not just our issue,” he continued, claiming that security patch activity on competing operating systems is twice as great, “but we all have to solve it the same way.”
A critical component of the problem, he continued, is the need to prevent one patch from undoing another: “Patches have to roll,” he said, “to be cumulative so that you dont ever have the problem of a service pack undoing something youve previously applied.”
He expressed hope for industry cooperation and update technology sharing: “Ideally,” he said, there should be a common service used by all vendors, “a place where you can go for updates to various applications and various operating systems. It shouldnt be owned by Microsoft.”
In the meantime, he reviewed Microsofts inventory of configuration management tools, and committed the company to reducing the number of separate installation tools and protocols used by its products: “We have a plethora of installers,” he said, adding that the Slammer problem was fundamentally a problem of installers, “but we will have fewer in twelve months, and in a number of years well have it down to a level that is really useful.”
Whats that proverb about the journey of a thousand miles?
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