Is your IT security being compromised by poor patch management?

How strong is your IT security? This is the question that is one of the most important elements to consider in your business. Completely different from personal security, business IT security enables you to protect critical systems, employees and keep customer information safe from both breaches and attacks. It doesn’t come as a surprise that upgrades are constantly being released to help repel any type of attack, however, if your business patch management isn't up to scratch your whole business could be at risk. 

Why is having suitable patch management important? 

If you didn’t already know, patch management is the most effective way for businesses to limit security weaknesses. This is where your IT team comes in to help keep your software, servers and technology secure by installing and testing patches to maintain your security levels. However, this is often the task which most businesses find difficult to keep up to date with, therefore your business is more than likely to be in the same position. Through the use of effective patch management, your business will be able to safeguard itself against numerous vulnerabilities. To put this into context, in 2018 alone, there were over 16,5000 security vulnerabilities reported and that figure will continue to rocket as hackers accelerate their efforts to steal your business data. 

Does your business have any security vulnerabilities? 

If your business has any security vulnerabilities this could lead to data theft, violating privacy laws as well as major security breaches. If you are under the impression that both your patch management or IT protocols are not up to scratch, the most effective way of assessing this is through a full Information Security Risk Assessment. This will make it easier for you to identify the risks to your business and data security which will help you to select the most suitable upgrade to implement. Consider this, if one of your employees decides to minimise the update notifications on their PC or laptop. These notifications are vital as they help to ensure that your business remains protected against all types of security attack. If you choose to ignore these updates, your business could be at risk of data breaches and much, much more. 

Does your business have the required patches to stay protected? 

Security patches are used to repair or stop an IT vulnerability becoming a problem once it's been identified. If your business doesn’t have an in-house IT team managing these updates, chances are your patch management is falling by the wayside and producing a hole in your business security. These patches come in a number of different forms; hotfix patches are usually released as and when required while a programme is still live & point release patches don’t make radical changes but update minor flaws. 

These security patches are vital and can be released when a weakness has been identified which can be resolved through the use of a patch. In addition to this, there are also service pack patches available that are largely considered as major and update or change large sections of a programme. Furthermore, there are also unofficial patches that are built by private users to resolve a specific problem or issue on their local systems. If you are running a business, you will need to maintain a proper patch management protocol to help ensure that your business and customers remain safe. 

Next Steps? 

If you are a business that is worried about the Cyber Security of your business and would like to have a comprehensive IT audit completed of your existing IT systems or would like to invest in getting your business fully Cyber Security Certified then please get in touch with one of our IT experts today to discuss your specific requirements. 

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