As it turns out, the patch management process is not as straightforward or simple as outsiders might imagine. With that in mind, Microsoft is teaming up with security consulting company Securosis to create metrics that can be used to assess the efficiency of an organization's patching process. In an effort called Project Quant, the duo will give organizations a model with which to calculate the total cost of patch management.

"Most of the medium to larger businesses that I have worked with have at least some sort of a good patch management process in there, particularly for their desktop patches," said Rich Mogull, founder of Securosis. "But home users, small businesses [and] all these other organizations definitely are a lot worse."

Even the big guys don't get it perfect, however.

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