Guide Explains Security Update Processes

A new guide explains terms, processes, and tools for Microsoft’s security updates and can help IT evaluate security risks and plan deployment of security updates. The Microsoft Security Update Guide is available free and has extensive links to resources and tools. It’s a must-read for IT security professionals developing a repeatable, effective deployment mechanism for security updates.

Definitions and Best Practices

The Microsoft Security Update Guide, released in July 2009, consolidates information previously available in multiple places and helps IT professionals better understand and use Microsoft security release information and security updates for Microsoft products. The 102-page guide is divided into sections that discuss how Microsoft shares security best practices, delivers security responses, and provides guidance and education. Each section contains extensive links to available Microsoft tools and information.

The guide includes the following sections:

Introduction. The guide introduces the vulnerability environment, using results from the latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, and suggests the business case for understanding the security update process: applying security updates quickly and consistently would have prevented many recent attacks from succeeding.