Indiana University automates software security patching

The academic institution rolled out Shavlik Technologies' HFNetChkPro automated patch management offering on more than 20,000 computer workstations used by faculty and staff members on eight campuses.

Because personal and institutional information is stored on many of these clients, officials recognized the importance of securing and protecting the data.

Tom Davis, IT security officer at Indiana University, said one of the main advantages of the enhanced system came from its ability to allow critical security patches to be distributed and applied to machines from a central location.

"System administrators responsible for applying security patches have to react quickly to ensure that the vulnerabilities addressed by the patches are corrected before they can be exploited," Davis said.

Using the patch management system, local system administrators in each of the 700 departments within Indiana University are able to scan all servers and workstations within their departments and immediately receive status reports that indicate where patch updates are needed.

"Academic institutions store extremely sensitive and proprietary information and the effects of a security breach can be devastating," added Mark Shavlik, president and CEO of Shavlik Technologies.

http://www.indiana.edu/
http://www.shavlik.com/