trackd AutoPilot leverages historical patch disruption data

trackd has released a powerful rules engine that uses its patch disruption data to enable auto-patching with confidence, and based on actual data.

“There’s only one reason that vulnerability management exists as a discipline in cyber security, and that’s because operators are afraid that applying patches will break things,” noted Mike Starr, CEO of trackd. “If there were no fear of disruption, everyone would auto-patch everything immediately and be done with it. trackd’s new AutoPilot offering is designed to start moving the industry toward more aggressive use of auto-patching – without having to cross fingers hoping nothing will break, thereby delivering meaningful reductions in cyber risk.”

AutoPilot leverages patch disruption data that no other vulnerability scanning or patching product has. When a user applies a patch with trackd’s platform, trackd records whether or not that patch caused a disruption, so trackd has an ever-expanding database of applied patches and their disruption histories.

The AutoPilot rules engine allows users to designate patches for auto-patching based on their disruptive histories. A rule may look like “if the patch has been deployed 10 or more times, and the disruption rate is less than 1%, set that to auto-patch.”

“Despite the countless vulnerability vendors that have joined the market over the last 2 decades, there has been little – if any – progress in reducing the time to patch,” added Starr. “The lack of innovation in the field is what prompted me to found trackd, and to address the only question that matters to operators in vulnerability management and remediation: will this patch break my stuff? With the release of AutoPilot, we’re hoping to address that dearth of fundamental innovation by attacking this intractable problem head on.”