Too many updates? Patch in this order
Patch Tuesday keeps getting bigger. You can’t do everything on day one, so do the right things first.
Monthly update lists are now hundreds of items long. Small IT teams can’t test and install all of it in a day, and they shouldn’t try. They should patch in the right order.
- Anything on the internet edge: VPN, firewall, email gateway, remote access tools, file transfer servers, MDM. Within days, sooner if exploited.
- Anything known to be exploited: check CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list. If it’s there and you run it, it jumps the queue.
- Browsers and email clients: they open untrusted content all day. Let them auto-update.
- Servers inside the network, starting with domain controllers and backup systems.
- Everything else on a regular monthly cycle.
Keep a simple list of what you own in each group. When the next big bug drops, you already know where to look.