Patent ID: 7876902

Claim:
A method of updating a computer program that is installed on a plurality of computers, the method comprising: distributing, to the plurality of computers, a first patch in an encrypted form decryptable with a first key, wherein said first patch prevents use of a first vulnerability in the computer program, and wherein said first patch in an unencrypted form reveals the existence of said first vulnerability; determining that one or more criteria have been met for installing the first patch; and after determination that said one or more criteria have been met, distributing said first key to the plurality of computers to decrypt the first patch, wherein distributing comprises: associating the first key with a domain name corresponding to the first patch via at least one domain name server; and deploying a component on each of the plurality of computers which causes the computers to automatically periodically contact the at least one domain name server to resolve the domain name corresponding to the first patch and obtain said first key to decrypt the first patch.