PatchLink proactively manages security updates for East Sussex County Council
With more than 4000 networked PCs and laptops across 100 different locations, East Sussex County Council had a difficult job making sure its network was secure and all endpoints were patched against the latest exploits.
The Council had been badly hit by the "Nachi" virus in 2002, for which a Microsoft Windows patch had previously been released but not fully deployed. With some parts of the Council's network down for up to three days, it became obvious that there was a need for an effective patch and vulnerability solution that proactively managed security updates across all machines with the latest patches and fixes.
With so many distributed sites, with different network speeds varying from 100Mbps down to 1kbps, the solution had to provide the Council with the flexibility and automation needed when deploying across a wide range of different software applications and specifications. Also, machines are constantly being replaced, rebuilt or moved and the Council required a solution that could accommodate these changes.
Although fundamental needs, these were not the only requirement of the mission critical solution. The Council faced a considerable number of issues, and finding the right patch management solution was proving a challenge. Issues included:
- The Council has many laptop users who connect to the network from various different locations and the solution had to ensure updates were supplied from the appropriate server for the location.
- The Council has an increasing number of employees working from home who access the network from laptops outside the Council firewall. The solution had to ensure these laptops were also securely updated.
- The solution had to support any current or future software that the Council may use.
- The Council has a policy to securely lock away laptops overnight. These laptops would need to have patches deployed within working hours, thus the solution had to be capable of applying updates without severely reducing network bandwidth.
- A large proportion of the Council's networked PC's are 'wakable'. To restrict updates to run overnight, the solution had to be capable of limiting deployments to specified hours of operation.
It was also essential to the Council that the solution vendor would have the close links with Microsoft necessary to release the patches as reliably and quickly as possible.
After the extensive evaluation process, PatchLink recommended by Global Secure Systems (GSS), was chosen by the Council. The Council determined that PatchLink Update was the best solution for enforcing compliance with security baselines through intelligent assessment, vulnerability remediation and continuous monitoring to ensure that all machines and servers are patched.
Senior IT Contractor for East Sussex County Council, John Bryant, said, "We found PatchLink Update provides ease of management, functionality, flexibility and efficient license and product costs, and is a proven product."
GSS has provided the Council with PatchLink Update, a comprehensive patch and vulnerability management system, that allows quick, accurate and secure protection from threats across the entire network. Bryant notes, "PatchLink Update has an easy to use, simple Web-based management console. PatchLink has developed their business model around ensuring the released patches undergo vigorous testing against its appropriate operating systems and languages for quality assurance and, if all is well, releases the patch into the PatchLink Repository. Their technology is continually monitoring the host service to ensure the deployment process is 100% successful, ensuring if the user installs additional software after patch deployment, the patch is not overwritten."
With its patented Digital Fingerprint Technology and the world's largest repository of patches, PatchLink Update accurately and rapidly assesses and remediates vulnerabilities and provides continuous monitoring to keep existing machines in ongoing compliance. "We can now quickly determine which machines are patched and have achieved a manageable level of automation in the application of necessary patches," explains Mike Walder, Support Consultant at the Council. "We have not been subject to any major virus attacks since deploying PatchLink and urgent patches can be quickly applied to all machines. We also now have a useful additional source of inventory information at both PC and group level as well as the additional option of using PatchLink to install other software or updates."
"We currently employ a mix of automated and manual processes, using a combination of in-house and PatchLink provided utilities," explains Walder. "All our networked PCs and laptops have the PatchLink Client Agent installed through Active Directory, and the appropriate PatchLink Proxy Server defined using an in-house start up script. We group machines according to location and deployment group using PatchLink's Agent Management Centre. This allows us to define rules based on IP ranges. Updates are applied as required through the deployment groups, using 'Wake on Lan' and PatchLink's definable hours of operation to carry out the process overnight, where possible."
PatchLink Update ensures that all end-points at the Council are accurately patched whilst reducing IT costs, improving productivity and simplifying administration. There is no need to worry about which machines are patched as PatchLink Update allows the easy management of multiple vendor patches to multiple computers in one distribution. PatchLink Update also supports phased rollouts as well as the deployment of patches within narrow installation windows. This ensures that updates can be limited to overnight hours. The solution also protects the Council's laptops and desktop PC's that are often disconnected from the network by applying staggered deployments during working hours to ensure those machines are patched and compliant.
Before PatchLink Update was deployed, the Council found securing their vast network a huge headache. It was nearly impossible to keep up with vulnerability patching and varying software upgrades with so many devices at different locations. Now, PatchLink's automated, accurate and most importantly, flexible solution ensures that the Council's systems are protected throughout their diverse network 24/7. The Council is confident PatchLink will meet their future security requirements and will further provide time and cost savings as their network evolves.
Mike Walder, Support Consultant,East Sussex County Council, commented: "Patchlink have provided us with a flexible working system which we are successfully using to manage the deployment of updates and patches, and hence provide a high degree of protection to our network. We have a good working relationship with GSS, who have been very supportive, offering consultancy, advice and recommendations. They also provide a good accessible link between us and Patchlink Corp. Once you get used to options available PatchLink is simple to use and the export to CSV facility is very useful."
Reproduced from an article published by Security Park
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