The McAfee, Inc study, conducted by Ipsos Research, found that:
- 27% of those questioned say it takes 48 hours or more from the time a patch is issued to the IT infrastructure being fully protected from the vulnerability.
- 36% of European businesses have no idea how many patches they applied to their business in a six month period
- 58% of IT professionals questioned have no idea how much the deployment of patches is costing their business
- one in five IT professionals spends an hour or more a day researching vulnerabilities and patches
- 45% of those asked do not prioritise which business areas to patch first.
McAfee says that patch management can affect compliance with government regulations including Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPPA and MiFID. Across Europe, the research reveals that most organisations have put the necessary steps in place, with 82% of those questioned having confidence in the compliance of their patch management policy.
