In business one of the most important things, to consider is the strength of your IT security. Unlike personal security, business IT security keeps critical systems, staff, and consumer information safe from attacks and leaks. There are always upgrades rolling out to combat the constant barrage of attacks, but if your IT Department has poor patch management, your whole company may be at risk.
Why Is Patch Management Important?
Patch Management is the main method by which companies of all sizes mitigate security vulnerabilities. The IT department is tasked with securing software, servers, technology, and other hardware to both install and test patches to maintain a high level of cybersecurity. This seemingly simple task is one that most companies struggle to keep up with, and your business is most likely no different.
Effective patch management will allow you to protect yourself from the thousands of vulnerabilities that are a part of doing business. In fact, in 2018 alone there were 16,500 security vulnerabilities reported and that number has grown exponentially as hackers learn and ramp up their efforts to steal your business information.
Does Your Business Have Security Gaps?
Security gaps in your business can result in a loss of critical data, violate privacy laws, and even lead to security breaches. If you think you have poor patch management or overall your IT protocols are ineffective, the best way to find out is by performing an Information Security Risk Assessment. This will allow you to uncover the risk to your business and data security so that you can upgrade your safeguards.
Think for a moment about how often you or your staff snooze the update notifications on their PCs or other work-related devices. These notifications are critical updates that allow your business’s information to remain safe and out of the hands of nefarious parties. By neglecting these critical updates, your business is being left vulnerable to data breaches and more.
Does Your Business Have The Patches You Need To Stay Safe?
Security patches are used to repair or prevent an IT vulnerability once a problem has been identified. If you don’t have an IT team constantly looking for updates, chances are your patch management protocol is creating a gap in your business security. There are many different types of patches; Hotfix patches are often released on the fly while a program is live, and Point release patches don’t change features but rather update to fix minor flaws.
Security patches are critical and are released when there is a weakness that needs to be fixed to correct any identified vulnerabilities. There are also service pack patches that are considered major and update or change large sections of a program. There are also unofficial patches that are made by private users to fix a problem on their local systems or the more popular monkey patch that fixes a plug-in.
As a business owner or IT professional, maintaining a proper patch management protocol is essential if you want to ensure a business and its consumers are protected.
At Inspired IT under our Managed Services, this is done in a controlled environment and is reported on if the devices do not get updated. If you want to find out more please contact [email protected]
