Virtual Patching

What Does Virtual Patching Mean?

Virtual patching is the process of creating and implementing a temporary policy that is used to mitigate exploitation risks associated with the discovery of new security vulnerabilities. It eliminates the potential threat of application or system security loopholes being identified and exploited by hackers.

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Virtual patching is also known as a Web application firewall (WAF).

Techopedia Explains Virtual Patching

The primary objective of virtual patching is to stop malicious traffic from accessing a vulnerable application, while simultaneously implementing the security patch. It allows developers and security administrators to keep an application/system running until a vulnerability fix is found, implemented and tested. The patch is installed on only a few select hosts/systems and can be replicated/covered across the application environment. However, virtual patching is not considered a long term solution and generally does not identify all software/system vulnerabilities.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…