What is Patch Tuesday?
Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday of each month when Microsoft releases security patches, bug fixes, and updates for its products, including Windows, Office, Edge, and more. First introduced in 2003, it provides a predictable schedule for IT teams to plan their patching workflows and maintain security compliance.
Can I automate Patch Tuesday deployments with HCL BigFix?
Absolutely yes! HCL BigFix Patch Policies allow you to "set and forget" your compliance strategy by defining a single policy that automatically refreshes whenever Microsoft publishes new content. These policies dynamically target endpoints and automate deployments based on your pre-defined schedules—such as "Day After" Patch Tuesday rules—while managing up to 350,000 endpoints from a single server.
How quickly does HCL BigFix publish patches after Patch Tuesday?
HCL BigFix Patch Team publishes tested, deployment-ready patches (called Fixlets in BigFix) on the same day Microsoft releases them.
Does HCL BigFix only patch Microsoft products?
No. While Patch Tuesday focuses on Microsoft, HCL BigFix provides automated patching for 120+ operating system versions, including Windows, macOS, RHEL, Ubuntu, SUSE, Amazon Linux, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, and hundreds of third-party applications from Adobe, Oracle, Google, Mozilla, and more — all from a single console with a single agent.
How does CyberFOCUS help prioritize patches?
CyberFOCUS Security Analytics is a threat intelligence feature that uses data from the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog and the MITRE ATT&CK framework to map real-world exploit activity to vulnerabilities in your environment. Its APT Vulnerability Simulator lets you see the impact of patching specific CVEs on your overall threat exposure, and Protection Level Agreements (PLAs) help you measure patching efforts against agreed-to targets.
What compliance frameworks does HCL BigFix support?
HCL BigFix provides thousands of out-of-the-box security checks aligned to CIS, DISA STIG, USGCB, and PCI-DSS benchmarks. It also supports broader compliance frameworks, including ISO, HIPAA, NIS2, and DORA. BigFix holds NIAP certification under Common Criteria and is SCAP 1.3 compliant, making it suitable for government and highly regulated industries.
