THE IMPORTANCE OF APPLYING
SECURITY UPDATES
In today's interconnected world, where technology is an integral part of our daily lives, cyber threats have become increasingly sophisticated and prevalent. As digital adversaries continuously evolve their tactics, organizations and individuals must stay vigilant and proactive in protecting their systems and data. One fundamental and often overlooked practice that is crucial in fortifying our digital defenses is applying security updates promptly.
Software, whether it is an operating system, web browser, application, or mobile app, is inherently complex. As such, it is difficult for the software engineers to overlook all possible ways to compromise the security of software at any given time.
To further understand vulnerabilities in software you can think of your own house, or apartment. Naturally, you protect your home by locking the front door. Perhaps you have a burglar alarm, and maybe even you have a large dog guarding your house. In this case, there can be several vulnerabilities. Maybe your front lock is old and outdated and can easily be picked by a burglar. The alarm you installed might not be connected to a security operations center. Your dog could be the friendliest dog in the world and when offered a couple of dog treats, he might be anyone’s friend.
In addition, there might be other ways to enter your home. Perhaps through a window, or even the chimney? As you can see, even though you have thought about security, there are vulnerabilities in your home.
When you understand this and find vulnerabilities, you can fix them. You could change the lock, install locks on your windows, connect your alarm system to an operations center and train your dog to bark loudly when any stranger approaches. In the world of software, this fixing of vulnerabilities is called patching.
Since the adversaries constantly look for ways to enter computer systems, software engineers constantly look for vulnerabilities and develop patches. Patches are released based on the criticality of the vulnerability. Normally they are deployed in a regular interval, but sometimes they are released quite urgently.
In any case, it is always important to apply these patches whenever they are released. If you wait and postpone the software updates the chance that the adversaries utilize the vulnerabilities will increase.
So, whenever you are prompted to apply security updates, please do so as soon as possible. This applies to both your work PC, work mobile, tablet, but also to any other device you own. Modern operating systems are monitoring and downloading patches for deployment, but for some types of equipment – such as your home sound system – you might need to manually check for updates.
