Lumension PatchLink Update

PatchLink Update Overview:

PatchLink Update™ provides rapid, accurate and secure patch management, allowing you to proactively manage threats by automating the collection, analysis and delivery of patches throughout your enterprise. PatchLink Update significantly decreases the costs involved in securing your organization from worms, Trojans, viruses and other malicious threats.

Thorough, Agent-Based Vulnerability Assessments

Quickly and accurately compile a comprehensive, centralized view of all of the vulnerabilities on your network through intensive agent-based scans of each managed endpoint. PatchLink Update's patented Digital Fingerprinting™ technology provides a highly accurate process for patch and vulnerability assessment and monitoring - leaving no systems open to attack.

View all of the vulnerabilities on all managed devices

Intelligent, Secure Patch Deployments

Rapidly deploy patches developed and maintained in your enterprise based repository using PatchLink’s intelligent patch deployment wizard. With support for phased rollouts, rapid verification of patch installs, automatic e-mail alerts for failed deployments and other advanced capabilities designed to reduce administrative effort and limit end-user disruptions, deploying software patches has never been easier.

All remediation packages are available within a 1 day timeframe maximum. PatchLink Update leverages software vendor's original remediation package download location for an enhanced and fast package availibility.

Simple, guided patch deployment

Continuous Validation of Policy Compliance

PatchLink Update's patented Digital Fingerprinting™ Technology eliminates patch drift by ensuring that endpoints get patched and stay patched by creating a patch fingerprint profile that includes all software, hardware, drivers, and existing and missing patches for each machine. Each endpoint is then continually monitored. Administrators can also establish a mandatory baseline to automatically remediate endpoints that don't meet defined patch levels - a key aspect of regulatory compliance.

Minimum patch policies automatically propagated to all machines in a group

Comprehensive Reporting

Address operational, management and compliance reporting needs with a graphical “dash board” and over 20 standard reports that document vulnerabilities, patch deployments, patch status, trends, inventory and more – at individual machine or aggregated levels- to demonstrate progress toward internal and external audit and compliance requirements.

Highly customizable graphical reporting “dashboard”

How it Works

Vulnerability Detection and Assessment: PatchLink Update proactively detects and assesses application, operating system and operational vulnerabilities on corporate endpoints.
Remediation Policies Defined: Enterprise-wide change management policies are established around the remediation of security and operational vulnerabilities.
Automated Patch Deployment and Remediation: Automated deployments are scheduled based upon patch criticalities and defined security policies, leveraging vendors’ own remediation download infrastructure.

Operating System Patches:

• PatchLink currently supports the following operating system patches. Platform support includes:
• Update installers (no base installers)
• For updates: patches, service packs, feature packs, cumulatives, and hot fixes
• For editions: standards, enterprise, and deluxe
• In all supported locales (listed below)

* Fee based content from Red Hat can be imported using the PatchLink Content Update Tool

Application Patches

• PatchLink currently supports the following application patches. Application support includes:
• Update installers (no base installers)
• For updates: patches, service packs, cumulatives, and hot fixes
• For editions: standard, enterprise, deluxe
• On all supported platforms
• In all supported locales (listed below)

Available Legacy Patches

The PatchLink Repository also contains various legacy operating system and application patches that are no longer updated on an ongoing basis, but are still available. Patches are supported only through the versions listed below.

Operating System Patches

• HP-UX 10.2 – 10.3
• AIX 4.3 – 4.3.3
• Windows 95
• NetWare 4.11 – 6.1

Application Patches

Supported Locales

PatchLink supports patches in the following locales for all operating system and application patches listed above.

Features & Benefits:

• Support for Security and All Other Patches - Support of security and Operating Systems patches (including Windows, Mac, Unix, Linux, Novell) as well as business software and hardware patches.
  
• Innovative Open Architecture - providing through the use of open standards a greater support for additional vendors leveraging their own technology to deliver remediation binaries to PatchLink Update and allow deployment in less than a day for any remediation package.
  
• Agent-Based Architecture - Protects laptop and mobile devices that are often disconnected from the network and reduces network bandwidth usage
  
• Directory Services Integration - Dynamic creation of groups based on existing Microsoft Active Directory environments, with cascading inheritance for agent policy, mandatory baseline and user permissions
  
• Inventory Management - Identifies and reports all software, hardware and services inventory and supports software distribution
  
• Automated Agent Distribution - Agent Management Center utility automates the deployment of the patching agent to unmanaged computers, ensuring maximum coverage and protection
  
• Automatic Notifications - Automatically alerts administrators when a patch is removed or dropped due to restoring a backup or installing a new application
  
• Comprehensive Patch Pre-Testing - Lumension Secuirity's extensive testing against standard computer images reduces the amount of development and testing required prior to patch deployment
  
• Flexible Application Reporting - Audits and reports on the status of the organization's security
  
• Flexible Scanning and Deployments - Allows the Administrator to control the scanning and patch distribution schedule to minimize business disruptions
  
• Fully Internet-Base - Communications based upon standard protocols (TCP-IP/ HTTP & HTTPS)
  
• Flexible Group Management - Creates custom computer groups to increase deployment accuracy and IT efficiency
  
• Hierarchical "Nested" Grouping - Allows the Administrator to represent multiple layers of geographical structure within PatchLink Update
  
• Highly Scalable - Ensures complete coverage for the largest worldwide networks with high-availability topologies and PatchLink Distribution Point architecture
  
• Custom Graphical "Dash Board" - Enables creation of a custom dash board of the information most critical to the success of your organization's patch management process from a list of 8 key indicators
  
• Multi-Patch Deployments - Delivers multiple patches to multiple computers in one distribution to increase IT productivity
  
• Multi-Platform Support - Enables security of all operating systems in heterogeneous networks, including Windows, UNIX, Linux, Apple, and Novell
  
• Patch Fingerprint Accuracy - Ensures the highest level of accuracy in the detection of security vulnerabilities
  
• Policy-Based Administration - Ensures that all systems meet a mandatory baseline policy - a key aspect of regulatory compliance
  
• Role-Based Administration - Enables System Administrator to delegate activities to improve productivity while maintaining security
  
• Subscription Service - Provides constant vulnerability/patch availability notification and secure downloads for selected, pre-tested and pre-packaged patches from a dedicated PatchLink host and ensures no unauthorized packages enter your network

Requirements:

Agent Coverage - Supported Client Operating Systems

Minimum Requirements – PatchLink Update Server

Documentation:

Download the Lumension PatchLink Update Datasheet (PDF).