Patch Management and SLAs

Prioritization tells you what to fix; patch management is the disciplined process that actually drives those fixes to completion, on time, and across the whole estate.

SLAs (service level agreements) define how fast different severities must be remediated. Without them, urgent fixes slip and accountability evaporates.

A repeatable cycle keeps systems current:

• Identify available patches (vendor advisories, scan results).
• Assess relevance and risk of applying.
• Test in a non-production environment.
• Deploy in controlled waves.
• Verify the patch applied and the system is healthy.

Each step has owners and evidence, mirroring the wider VM lifecycle.