Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
every three years.” Although this is only a rough measure and many tech-
nologies (notably security-related and mobile) change at a faster rate, it
has worked well in planning for regular technology updates for more than
two decades.
Patches and Service Packs
Patches and hotfixes are released regularly by software vendors to cor-
rect small groups of vulnerabilities, while rollups of these small changes
are produced as service packs that allow easier update to new systems
beyond the sequential application of all minor updates since the base
software edition was released. New features may also be introduced in
service pack updates, requiring significantly more testing before deploy-
ment into an enterprise to ensure that changes do not degrade enterprise
service availability.
Zero-Day Threats
So-called “zero-day” security issues may also arise randomly, allowing an
attacker the opportunity to exploit previously unknown security vulner-
abilities. When these attacks arise, vendors must rush patches through
that are often less well tested than scheduled updates, and these present
a two-edged sword for the security and testing teams within the enter-
prise. Updates like these must be applied as rapidly as possible to protect
the network, but testing is still necessary to ensure that rapidly produced
updates do not render critical systems inoperable.
You can minimize the potential negative impact of these updates
through participation in professional forums and testing groups that allow
feedback to provide input from a range of enterprise configurations. Mon-
itoring security feedback aggregation websites such as the SANS Internet
Storm Center (http://isc.sans.org) can also aid in identifying emerging
threats and evaluating community-developed defensive strategies.
Test Net works
Maintaining a test network that matches the same software packages and
configuration settings found in the production environment is important
