The release of Cisco’s Annual Security Report shows that corporate security teams are not patching holes in their software or security tools. Less than half of the respondents at 1,700 companies in nine countries use standard tools for ensuring
they are running the latest versions of software.
This study comes in the year that saw the Heartbleed scare, yet 56% of all installed OpenSSL versions are over four years old. It’s what you don’t know that can hurt you — the study also says that of chief information security officers, 75% believe their security tools are very or extremely effective.
Configuration updates are important and necessary. But they are also a pain. In addition to the management headache of keeping track of different updates, there is the chore of pushing configurations, dealing with exceptions, remote connections, failed updates…
But Uplogix can help. Mass configuration changes on like devices can be scheduled
and executed as batches at pre-specified times, rather than an administrator updating each device one
by one. This automation not only saves time and effort, but also removes
opportunity for human error. (Think about how most service windows are in the middle of the night.) This combination of time, effort and risk leads to
the common delays of maintaining security patches and updates.
The added capability to automatically roll-back configuration changes makes it safe to apply changes and updates often,
ensuring new threats are addressed immediately as they become known.
Here is a hands-on look at mass config change with Uplogix: