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Net Care To Release Centralized Security Patch Service
SecurityProNews
Staff Writer
2004-08-30
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Internet Initiative Japan today announced that on September 1, 2004, its 52.5% owned subsidiary, Net Care, Inc., will release PatchCare, a centralized security patch management service.
Microsoft Product Support Services issues patches under the name HotFix, and these patches address certain security issues for a customer. For PatchCare customers, the Network Care Operation Center remotely installs Critical and Important HotFixes for Windows XP Pro and Windows 2000 Pro(*) on PCs connected to the customer's network.
(*) Includes HotFixes for Internet Explorer and Outlook Express
As dramatically demonstrated by the Blaster virus, which ravaged the world in August 2003, the number of attacks targeting Windows security holes has been increasing in recent years. Recently an important security hole was discovered that allows an infected Web page or e-mail message displayed in Internet Explorer to download programs to the PC without user consent. In September 2003, the Information Technology Promotion Agency (IPA) conducted a survey of 985 companies in Japan, and this survey showed that about 18% of these companies suffered losses through attacks that exploited a Windows security hole. These events have raised awareness of the extreme importance of installing HotFix patches. However, installing these patches is a serious responsibility. It requires IT administrators to know which HotFixes to install, in what order, on each computer in the entire organization, and any mistakes in this order may make Windows unstable, or in the worst case, even reduce the overall security level.
With PatchCare, the customer's computing environment, from small LANs to large corporate networks, is connected to the NetCare Operation Center (NOC) via VPN. When information on a vulnerability or HotFix is released, the NOC sends it immediately to the customer and takes the following actions.
1. The NOC reports the HotFix information to the customer
2. The customer's system administrator gives the okay to install the patch
3. A check is made for reports on performance problems associated with the HotFix
4. The appropriate operations are performed on the customer's PCs that have agent software installed
System administrators do not need to worry about installing HotFixes and they can operate their systems with the comfort of knowing that they are supported by a secure computing environment. Used in tandem with firewalls and anti-virus software, PatchCare provides an effective defense against hackers that try to exploit these types of security holes.
The PatchCare service uses NetWizard technology from Attachmate Japan Corporation, which is a leader in the field of software distribution technology.
PatchCare fees include an initial fee of JPY 300,000 per location, plus a per-computer fee. The per computer fee is JPY 3,900 for 1 to 300 computers, JPY 3,400 for 301 to 1000, and JYP 2,900 for 1001 or more. There is also a monthly fee of JPY 30,000 per location, plus a per-computer fee. The per computer fee is JPY 900 for 1 to 300 computers, JPY 800 for 301 to 100, and JYP 700 for 1001 or more.
Reference: Microsoft Alert Severity Ranking
Critical: A vulnerability whose exploitation could allow the propagation of an Internet worm without user action.
Important: A vulnerability whose exploitation could result in compromise of the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of users data, or of the integrity or availability of processing resources.
Moderate: Exploitability is mitigated to a significant degree by factors such as default configuration, auditing, or difficulty of exploitation.
Low: A vulnerability whose exploitation is extremely difficult, or whose impact is minimal.
About the Author:
SecurityProNews is a daily online and email publication focusing on internet security issues.
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