Patch management

Patches can be used to defend against and eliminate potential vulnerabilities of a system, so that no threats may exploit them.

The practice is broadly concerned with the identification, acquisition, distribution, and installation of patches to systems.

Some definitions of patch management are as a software-level practice,[1] while others are as a systems-level process: software, drivers, and firmware.

Up-to-date systems often perform more efficiently, less expensively, with less errors, less security risks, and better user workflow.

Similarly, the difficulty of patch management across many devices may grow at an uncontrollable rate depending on organizational size.