Use patching to protect your network from threats

Patching is an established routine for most organizations. IT directors and network administrators know that it is necessary to patch systems and applications on a regular basis to protect their networks against vulnerabilities.

This is a good system for the flaws that are known. However, vulnerabilities that are discovered by the vendors themselves or by security researchers with a sound moral compass and strong ethics are typically not announced to the general public until the appropriate patch is developed and available. Sometimes, though, flaws are discovered by developers of questionable character, and those flaws are turned into attacks that can be used to exploit the vulnerability before the software vendor -- or the general public -- have any idea that a problem exists.

These zero-day exploits -- so

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named because there is no notice given between the discovery of the vulnerability and the discovery of an active exploit of the vulnerability in the wild -- can take networks by surprise and wreak havoc on the enterprise. There are some fundamental steps you can take to proactively protect the network and minimize the potential for a zero-day exploit to impact your enterprise.

About the author: Tony Bradley is a consultant and writer with a focus on network security, antivirus and incident response. He is recognized by Microsoft as an MVP in Windows Security, and he is the About.com Guide for Internet / Network Security, providing a broad range of security tips, advice and reviews. Bradley is co-author of Hacker's Challenge 3 and author of Essential Computer Security. He contributes frequently to other industry publications. For a complete list of his freelance contributions, visit S3KUR3.com.

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