The average time-to-exploit for known software vulnerabilities has dropped from over a year in 2020 to under 24 hours today. Over 80% of attacks cataloged by CISA target systems with available patches that organizations had not applied. For insurers running commercial policy administration software, a single delayed patch can be the entry point for compromising policyholder PII, financial data, and claims history across the full book of business.
Every vendor security patch is a public announcement of a vulnerability. The patch tells attackers exactly what was broken and how it was fixed, and in many cases that information is enough to build a working exploit. For insurers, this turns routine patch management into a race: apply the fix before attackers weaponize it. That race is now measured in hours, not weeks.
This brief provides a practical framework for CIOs to measure their actual patch exposure, inventory their full technology stack beyond vendor-issued patches, apply compensating controls when patching cannot be immediate, and hold cloud vendors contractually accountable for infrastructure patch timing.
Clients of Datos Insights’ Life, Annuities, & Benefits and Property & Casualty services can download this report.
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