Can someone explain how Asset Risk Profile fits into patch management?Solved

Good question mate.

In the context of patch management, an Asset Risk Profile is essentially a calculated or assessed risk rating assigned to each device based on factors like:

• Device role (e.g., production server vs. student laptop)
• Exposure level (e.g., public-facing, DMZ, VPN-only)
• Compliance posture
• Historical vulnerability or patch delay trends
• User privilege level

Think of it as a way to prioritize which devices need patches the fastest, based on how risky they are if left unpatched. For example:

• A domain controller with unpatched RCE vulnerabilities = High-risk asset
• A kiosk machine used once a month in a lobby = Low-risk asset

You can apply this concept by grouping devices based on their business criticality, and apply more aggressive patch schedules to high-risk devices.

We have implemented some strategies with Hexnode for our patch management. I would like to share them if it helps. We implement risk scoring with patch automation. Like, if a device has:

• Critical business data
• Is assigned to an executive
• Or is frequently off-network and hard to reach

…it gets a “High” profile. Then it’s patched ASAP; even outside regular windows.

In Hexnode, we tag devices using device attributes, then build dynamic groups from those tags and link them to more aggressive enforcement policies (e.g., fewer deferral days, force reboots, no user deferral).

You can try and use this approach if it helps, or let me know if there’s a better way to go about it. You can even integrate this with Compliance Policies to flag non-compliant risky devices and alert the admin.