Worms Jack Up the Total Cost of Windows

rbrandis writes "Dealing with widespread worms like Sasser raises the cost of using Windows, a research analyst said Wednesday. "This is part of the carrying cost of using Windows," said Mark Nicolett, research director at Gartner. "The cost of a Windows environment has gone up because enterprises have to install security patches very rapidly, deal with outages caused by secondary problems with these patches, and deploy additional layers of security technology." "The Sasser worm attacks confirm our prediction that mass worm attacks against the multiple vulnerabilities disclosed by Microsoft on April 13 were likely," said Nicolett and his Gartner colleague, John Pescatore, in an alert posted on the Gartner site."

Comments

I can relate

[Yi Ding]

I work at a computer science department, and I'm currently compiling a CD of patches that people have to install before they get on the internet. Right now, the number of patches is nearing 30.

Re:I can relate

[Yi Ding]

Yeah, you can also order all patches from M$ themselves.. I forget the link but you can order all patches on CD for free.. I had it come to me but the curior never left it at my house, and wanted me to come pick it up..

Yep, I ordered that as soon as it came out, and it finally came, but since the CD was made in Februrary, it doesn't have any of the patches that just came out in April (ie the one that patches against the Sasser worm), so it's back to making CDs by hand.

Autopatcher

[kajoob]

Actually, Just install the latest service pack and then install Autopatcher. It has all the updates, hotfixes, and some cool extras all rolled into one scripted install so you can just start the install and walk away. I've used it and I can say that it makes life a million times easier.

There are versions for 9x all the way up to XP. You could fit everything onto one cd, and if you wanted you could even script that install. Thanks Autopatcher guys!

Re:Server-based patching

[therblig]

You can realize half that dream with Microsoft Software Update Services. We've been running it for nearly a year, and it keeps every Windows machine on our network patched. All I do is approve patches, and they are automatically pushed out to every computer on the network. TCO for 130 users was a little over $500 for another copy of Windows 2000 Server, plus a day for setup, plus about ten minutes a month checking and approving patches.

I know it isn't perfect, and I shouldn't even have to pay for a server to keep our MS stuff up-to-date, but it has saved us tons of time and hasn't given us any problems yet. Maybe we are an exception.