Lessons · Cybersecurity · a patch deadline in hours
Working out the patch deadline
The deadline is the publication time plus the number of hours the policy allows, and the hours left are that allowance minus the hours already gone.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
The ticket says 'patch soon'. Soon is not a time, and the machine that was two days past a 72-hour policy is the one the auditor asks about. Turning the policy into an hour on a clock is what makes it real.
How to think about it
Write three things: when the vendor published, how many hours the policy gives, and what time it is now. Deadline is the first plus the second. Hours left is the second minus the hours since publication. Count in hours, not in days, because a policy in hours does not care about the weekend.
Worked example
Published Monday 09:00, policy 72 hoursThe vendor's clock starts it.
Deadline = Monday 09:00 + 72 hours = Thursday 09:00Straight addition. No rounding to working days.
Now Tuesday 21:00, so 36 hours have goneMonday 09:00 to Tuesday 21:00 is 24 + 12 hours.
Hours left = 72 - 36 = 36Half the allowance spent, half remaining.
Your turn
A 48-hour policy with 20 hours already gone. Write the line that gives the hours left.
left = 48 -
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Counting only working hours. The weakness does not stop being used at five on Friday, and a policy in hours means hours on a wall clock.