Automated Patching and Updates?

["Sadler, Connie" <Connie_Sadler () BROWN EDU>]

Given all of the recent worm activity, etc., it seems timely to gather
some information from you folks regarding what you are already doing -
or planning to do - in terms of pushing updates and patches out to your
user communities in a way that is not too "intrusive". We all work in
diverse environments where many of our users are also sensitive to
having someone else "touch" their machines. Yet it seems a losing battle
to continue to manually update workstations in some areas when they are
being automatically attacked in very sophisticated ways.

Can you folks please share with us:

1)  What you are already doing now - in terms of pushing or automating
patching or updates?

2)  What you are evaluating or looking at for doing this kind of thing -
and in what areas of your environment?

3)  What technologies you are familiar with and what platforms the
solutions support?

Thanks much! I am willing to summarize the input I receive if I get
enough good feedback...

Connie J. Sadler, CM, CISSP, CISM
Director, IT Security, Brown University
Box 1885, Providence, RI 02912
Connie_Sadler () Brown edu
PGP Fingerprint: 452A C178 1450 9CE1 3AC1  CC12 956F 2C55 DB94 A9C7
Office: 401-863-7266

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