Shavlik today announced it has released Shavlik Protect 9.2, a significant update to its market-leading security software solution that discovers missing patches and deploys them across an entire organization quickly and seamlessly. This update features improved patch approval processing, enhanced scheduling and an integration with newly released Shavlik Empower. Together these technologies work to bring new insight and capabilities for operational and security data.
“We are thrilled to release Shavlik Protect 9.2,” said Chris Goettl, senior product manager at Shavlik. “Shavlik Protect is the best solution available for patching critical systems and vulnerabilities. Shavlik Protect will continue to be the datacenter solution for patching critical systems and ensuring vulnerabilities are being plugged. With Protect you can see more about your environment and know more before you make critical decisions.”
Protect 9.2 features improved patch assessments that cut the time to assess in half compared with the previous version. With agentless technology, Protect streamlines the patching process by giving IT departments increased opportunities to automate their patching. Shavlik Protect also features intuitive patch scheduling based on Patch Tuesday releases. This allows admins to easily manage their patching based on this industry-standard release, rather than arbitrary dates.
Protect 9.2 also gives admins greater control of their environments. Administrators can create templates that can dynamically update, so systems that often leave the network are kept up to date no matter where they go or for how long. For the more strictly managed systems, admins can create granular baselines that allow for detailed test and approval processes, mitigating any worry that a patch will inadvertently break a system. With new Predictive Patch technology, Protect can anticipate what admins will need next and distribute it across the enterprise before it is detected as missing.
Accurate and timely implementation of third-party patches is critical, as 86 percent of reported vulnerabilities come from third-party applications, according to the U.S. National Vulnerability Database. With Protect 9.2, IT departments have more control over more applications than any other product on the market. Protect goes beyond OS patching and adds third-party software update distribution, virtual infrastructure patching and patch scanning for all Windows systems on a network. With Protect, users can see all available patches from vendors such as Apple, Google, Oracle, Adobe and Microsoft, including each separate product. They can then select which patches they want to deploy.
Shavlik also simultaneously released Shavlik Empower, a user-centric platform that brings Shavlik technologies into the cloud. Empower seamlessly integrates with Protect, providing users with optimal insight into operational and security data. This integration rolls up patch data from Protect to Empower, giving users one central place in the cloud to access all of their patching data quickly and easily. The Empower platform also adds asset and patch support for Mac systems. With this new add-on IT admins can manage any user’s system no matter how long it remains off network.
“I'm thrilled with the capability Shavlik Protect now has to create my patching schedules based off Microsoft's Patch Tuesday calendar,” said Justin Hollis, senior IT administrator, Southside Bank. “This will save me at least an hour each month and it also helps assure that I don't make mistakes. I'll finally be able to set my calendar once and not have to modify it again next month or worry that I've picked the wrong week. More than once this has caused issues because I rescheduled for the third Saturday in the month instead of the fourth or fifth.”
For more information about Shavlik 9.2, please visit www.shavlik.com/products/protect.
About Shavlik
Shavlik is a recognized leader in patch management, and a pioneer in agentless patching technology, virtual machine (VM) patching and third-party application patching. Shavlik solutions include Shavlik Protect, Shavlik Patch for Microsoft System Center and Shavlik Empower. Shavlik’s combination of premise- and cloud-based solutions enables organizations of all sizes to begin improving organizational security in as little as 30 minutes. See More, Know More and Protect More with Shavlik. www.shavlik.com
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