Realistic Patch Management Tips, Post-SolarWinds Patch management and testing are different, exactly the same, and completely out of hand. Here are tips from the experts on how to wrangle patches in a time of malicious software updates. (image by Barbara Helgason, via Adobe Stock) "If you didn't already know that patching introduces risk, well...now you know," says Brad Causey, CEO of security consulting and penetration testing firm Zero Day Consulting. Causey is referring of course to the recent attack on SolarWinds that shook the industry. Software updates for SolarWinds' Orion network management software were used to distribute the Sunburst/Solarigate backdoor Trojan to some 18,000 organizations worldwide. (Note: SolarWinds is, itself, also a provider of third-party patch management services. However, those services do not appear to have been affected by the recent attacks.)