How does Tanium handle patch management?

Tanium is designed to streamline patch management by allowing organizations to efficiently evaluate the patch status of their endpoints. This capability provides users with real-time visibility into which devices need updates, the current patch levels, and the overall compliance status. This helps IT teams prioritize and manage the patching process effectively, ensuring that vulnerabilities are addressed in a timely manner while also allowing them to plan and execute updates based on their specific operational needs.

This contrasts sharply with other approaches, such as prohibiting all device updates, which could lead to security vulnerabilities, or automatically installing updates without consideration for user environments. The latter could cause disruptions or compatibility issues. Additionally, requiring user permission for every patch can lead to delays in updating systems, as it puts the responsibility on users rather than streamlining the process. Therefore, enabling efficient evaluation of patch status aligns with best practices in IT management and security.