Shavlik Patch eliminates virtual vulnerabilities

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 75 percent of cyber-attacks target vulnerabilities in commercial software. These targeted vulnerabilities, the report concludes, can be cured with the simple administration of patches. While the patching of operating systems is a common practice a significant number of vulnerabilities are emerging from applications that are not part of the operating system. Despite the structure that is put in place to patch software, the fact remains that many organizations have not solved the problems of patch management.

To help Microsoft System Center customers meet the challenge of modern security, Shavlik, the first company to provide third-party patches within Microsoft System Center, has announced the release of Shavlik Patch for Microsoft System Center. Shavlik Patch (the next generation of Shavlik SCUPdates) offers a powerful, integrated, and easy-to-use interface for updating third-party applications within Microsoft System Center. Shavlik patch maximizes an organization’s investment in Microsoft System Center, provides a robust ability to scale based on organizations needs and virtually eliminates security risks from unpatched third-party applications, like Java, flash and web browsers. This streamlined approach to patch management does not require the installation of additional applications or agents for deployment and can be managed with just a few mouse clicks.

One of the primary impediments to effective patching of third-party applications is working through a time-intensive list of demanding, manual processes. Shavlik Patch offers an intuitive interface that plugs directly into the Microsoft System Center console. This seamless integration reflects the tight, behind-the-scenes connections with Microsoft Systems Center that allow automatic patch metadata acquisition from the Shavlik cloud. Providing a single workflow for deploying updates to Microsoft operating systems, Microsoft applications, and non-Microsoft applications, Shavlik Patch utilizes its Shavlik Patching Data and processes for multi-step deployments without IT intervention.

“We are excited for the patch community to use Shavlik Patch for Microsoft System Center,” said Robert Juncker, vice president of engineering for Shavlik. “Despite the daily headlines about epic security failures, patching should be a quick routine process - not a job description. Shavlik has patched both Microsoft and third-party applications for nearly 20 years and because of that experience, our customers are now as close as they can get to click and go security patch deployment. This is a leap forward for today’s SCUPdates users and is the first in a series of exciting products focused on amplifying the Microsoft System Center experience for our customers.”

In addition to Shavlik Patch for Microsoft System Center, Shavlik has products to patch the data center and to track and manage software licenses. These products are designed to enhance the end-user experience and expand System Center capabilities.