We read about security breaches everyday in the news. Companies spend a lot of money on protecting systems against potential attacks. Gartner estimated that in 2015, $75.9 billion would be spent on information security worldwide. Although security is a concern for most organizations, simple updates are often ignored.
Why are updates important?
When software and operating systems (OS) provide an update or patch, it typically means that there is a security risk. Holes can lead to system vulnerabilities, and is often the entry for hackers. As software and OS vendors become aware of holes, patches are released to fix vulnerabilities.
Additionally, improvements to software and operating systems continue to be made once the initial version has been released. Some updates are released to enhance system features, improving overall performance.
What does an update look like?
It is important to stay privy to operating system and software updates, this may take some searching to identify when patches are available, but an absolutely necessary step as a basic form of data security. If companies have the bandwidth to perform updates, they can be relatively simple to execute.
The good news
Many IT departments run lean, they do not have the manpower to stay current with system updates. DSI has expanded offerings to include a patch service to its entire 2,000-customer installed base. As part of the service, DSI will track the release of software updates and security patches for the Linux operating system, and work with customers to apply those at a suitable time.