Microsoft recommends the installation of patches as part of a regular monthly Tuesday release cycle. IT Computer Support of New York (ITCSNY) believes that the security and reliability of a business’s computer system is mission-critical and business-essential, therefore we recommend following Microsoft’s recommendation. Microsoft designates some patches “critical”, which means they need to be installed on your computers because of known vulnerabilities that affect reliability or security. ITCSNY has a managed service program where we take care of the monthly patching for a fixed price, as a matter of regular maintenance.
Some clients are sensitive to the monthly cost and would rather patch on a quarterly basis. This is outside Microsoft’s recommendation and increases the risk to their system, but it is still a regular review of each server.
Some clients have no arrangement for patching and only patch after a security breach, data loss or other failure stops their business operation. This is the painful and expensive way to go.
In the last three patching cycles (through February) there have been critical patches every month, and last month featured a ‘zero day’ fix. Zero day bugs are vulnerabilities that have just been discovered and are considered extra critical to apply in a timely fashion.
The bottom line is if you do not have the ITCSNY managed services for patching, and you haven’t asked us to patch your systems in the last 3 months, there is no better time to ask to be patched. You’ll receive the last three months of critical patches, plus last month’s zero day patches in one patch session.
– Dan Scolnick
IT Computer Support of New York
President and Chief Technical Officer
