DHS mulls patching alternatives

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

The Homeland Security Department is considering alternatives to its Patch Authentication and Dissemination Capability, which has failed to generate many users.

The Homeland Security Department is considering alternatives to its Patch Authentication and Dissemination Capability, which has failed to generate many users.

Just what a new patch management service would do has not been determined, said Amit Yoran, director of the National Cybersecurity Division in DHS' Information Assurance and Infrastructure Protection Directorate.

The only thing decided so far is that 'it is not a continuation of PADC,' he said.

PADC hasn't measured up to the expectations held out at its January 2003 introduction.

'We have to measure ourselves by the value our programs provide,' Yoran said. 'The people responsible for maintaining security have to be the ones to determine this. We talked with agency chief security officers and CIOs. The message we got was that it was a good concept, but the program wasn't delivering the value we hoped for.'

PADC is a free service offered by DHS' Federal Computer Incident Response Center. It tests and validates vendors' security patches, notifies government subscribers of available patches and provides a secure link for downloading them.

SecurInfo Corp. of San Antonio and Veridian Corp. of Arlington, Va., operate PADC for FedCIRC under a $10.8 million, five-year task order. Veridian tests the patches to ensure they work as advertised, and SecurInfo digitally signs and posts them on its secure servers, at padc.fedcirc.gov.

But the General Accounting Office has found that limits in capabilities and available licenses have discouraged use by agencies.

'PADC is one of a variety of available services and automated tools, and it does not include important features available in other services and products,' Robert F. Dacey, GAO's director of information security, told the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census last year.

The subcommittee has questioned why government computers remain vulnerable to worms and viruses. The complexity of patch management is one reason.

Patches protect systems from vulnerabilities discovered in hardware and software that hackers can exploit. But identifying components that need to be patched, then installing and verifying fixes is so time-consuming that many systems remain vulnerable long after patches are available.

PADC was intended to help federal IT administrators do that job. But subscribing agencies must give FedCIRC lists of their IT assets, so they can be notified of relevant patches. Each agency, however, must still test and install the patches on its own configurations, then verify that they were installed properly. They must then update the configuration information for FedCIRC.

Although 47 agencies subscribed to the service, the Office of Management and Budget has said use is low.

Another limitation is the number of licenses available. Budget constraints have held it to only 2,000 accounts governmentwide. FedCIRC cannot offer many agencies enough licenses to meet their needs.

Meanwhile, commercial patch management has progressed to the point that off-the-shelf technology could be an improvement over PADC.

'The program has not kept up with current technology,' Yoran said. 'The commercial market is promising.'

He said DHS is working with the CIO Council and OMB to develop requirements for a patch management system.

'If there is a commercial solution we can adopt, it would make all the sense in the world' to use it, Yoran said.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.