Traditionally, midsized organizations have turned to multiple products from multiple vendors to patch, manage and secure their diverse endpoints. Patches could be deployed from a USB drive, and compliance reports could be maintained within a few spreadsheets. However, these manual processes are hard to sustain as the organization grows, particularly in distributed environments.
Endpoints are increasingly becoming the weakest link in IT security, and the target of more sophisticated attacks. Security administrators need to guard against new types of malicious viruses, worms and spyware, and potential threats are often hidden within web pages and emails.
Another security challenge is that more and more employees are working remotely or in branch offices that have no IT staff onsite. These employees may be working off less secure Internet-based connections—not necessarily connecting to a corporate virtual private network (VPN). Effective endpoint management is critical in order to protect the entire organization, regardless of where the endpoint is located or how it is connected.
Whether employees work in the office or remotely, many exposures result from endpoints that lack critical patches or have configuration errors that leave them open to attack. But rapid deployment of security patches can be an overwhelming task for IT staff at midsized organizations.
Some organizations attempt to use free patch management products that end up costing them more overall. These free tools often require more infrastructure to use them and more IT staff to manage them, and they typically provide poor results in patch effectiveness and endpoint coverage. For example, Windows-only tools are not able to protect Linux, UNIX and Macintosh systems, or Android and iOS mobile devices. And free tools may not protect common third-party applications, such as Adobe applications, which puts organizations at even higher risk.
IBM provides a patch management solution designed to help midsized organizations manage the constant f low of patches, and it is available at a price to fit midsized budgets. The IBM solution enables IT administrators to easily apply the correct patches to the correct endpoints, and then verify that the patches are truly applied. By automatically enforcing patch policies, the solution supports continuous patch compliance.
With the IBM patch management solution, midsized organizations can:
- Automatically manage patches for multiple operating systems and applications across a wide range of endpoints, regardless
- of location, connection type or status
- Get greater visibility into patch compliance with flexible, near real-time monitoring and reporting
- See the patch status for all endpoints from a single console
- Help reduce security risk by streamlining remediation cycles from weeks to minutes or hours
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Patch online and off line virtual machines to improve security in virtual environments
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Patch endpoints on or off the network—including devices using Internet connections—with minimal endpoint impact, meaning laptops using a public Internet connection at a coffee shop and other “roaming” devices can still receive patches
- Improve audit readiness with simple and fast compliance reports
Using IBM BigFix, midsized organizations can deploy a single, cost-effective solution for endpoint management—improving visibility and control within a limited budget. IBM can collaborate with your organization to understand the type of solution that’s needed to help drive higher business results, and then help implement that solution to quickly deliver a fast return on investment. And, as your organization’s needs change, you can easily extend the BigFix solution to include additional capabilities.
Schedule a consultation today to learn how Flagship can assist you in implementing the right BigFix solution for your organization.
Image credit: IBM Corporation
See the full infographic in IBM’s White Paper, Reducing the cost and complexity of endpoint management.
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