Thursday, November 14, 2013

Is Poor Patch Management Leaving You Open to Hackers?

In a world where things like automatic updates and online security are always at the forefront of our minds thanks to increased media attention, it would be reasonable to think that hackers and cyber criminals should be a dying breed. However, there seems to be more security breaches than ever before - so what gives? To put it simply, because so many people have poor patch management practices in place, they are providing these criminals with a constant supply of new victims.
Unsecured Mobile Devices
Who doesn't have a smartphone these days? Regardless of whether it is Android, iOS, Windows or Blackberry the meteoric rise in the number of smartphones has left the public vulnerable to security threats. When it comes to smartphones, updates to the operating system are carried out by the carrier rather than the end user leaving us at their mercy. These companies actually do usually do a good job of maintaining updates and patches, but often it is down to the user to deploy the updates sent to the phone. It might be useful for you to implement a mobile device management product to keep on top of these updates.
Protection For Remote Workstations
With so many companies allowing employees to work remotely by connecting to the company network from wherever suits them. However, this means that those employees are cut off from the IT department. It is actually common practice for remote workers to only be required to bring their laptop in for servicing once a year. Imagine how much damage can be done in 12 months considering the fact that new threats are identified on a daily basis. It make much more sense to implement a patch management system which can be deployed remotely and instructing remote users to connect to the VPN weekly for updates and scanning.
In order to reduce the threats looming over users and their data a pro-active approach is needed. The responsibility lies with everyone from the vendors to the end users. It is not enough to simply secure data, the platforms and the devices themselves also need to be tended to. Every company needs to ensure that each device connecting to their network is secure and all updates need to be deployed straight away rather than collecting them for a scheduled maintenance session every few months. System administrators need to be running regular scans to identify vulnerabilities and patch management software should be used to both update and report back on systems. Even the end user has their part to play by making sure they regularly update their devices.
If you are looking for a great patch management tool then I suggest you download and buy BatchPatch here. It is really easy to use and you will be offered plenty of customer support to get you up and running, just watch the videos and see for yourself!

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