Patch management is a thankless job. Data shows, despite best efforts, that 80 percent of enterprise applications have at least one unpatched vulnerability in them, according research by Veracode.

It is not for lack of trying that vulnerabilities persist. Last year 16,500 vulnerabilities were reported, making patching each one nearly an impossible task for any one company. Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that Windows patching times appear to be moving in the wrong direction. According to Edgescan, the average of 63 days to patch in 2017 to 81 days in 2018.