How to establish a patch management process for your business

Reading is great. Tracking makes it stick. Sign up for a free Dashboard to tick off tasks and see your Security Score.

Get my free Dashboard →

Cyber Nova AI helps you prepare for Cyber Essentials. It doesn't award or certify it. Follow the steps here to get ready, then apply for certification through an accredited Cyber Essentials body when you're set.

UpdatesMedium priority

About 60 minutes to complete

Create a documented process to ensure all business devices and software are patched within 14 days of a critical update being released.

Step-by-step guide

List all software and operating systems used in your business
Assign someone responsibility for monitoring vendor security bulletins
Define a policy: critical patches applied within 14 days, others within 30
Use Windows Update for Business or a patch management tool for scale
Review the patch status monthly and document it

5 steps

Why this matters

The Cyber Essentials standard requires critical and high severity patches to be applied within 14 days. A documented process makes this repeatable and auditable.

How to confirm it worked

The setting is saved and active on your device
You have tested it works before closing the page

Tick this task off in your Dashboard to update your Security Score.

Related security tasks

Track your security score for free

Create a free Cyber Nova AI account to tick off tasks like this one, see your Security Score, and stay on top of what you've done and what's still to do.

Start your free security check