The Benefits of Software Updates and the Easiest Way to Maintain Them

The Information Technology Directorate always emphasizes vigilance online, whether you’re doing research for work or surfing the net at home. During October, which is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, IT is going further into the hows and whys of safeguarding your information on the web.

During October, IT has been sending weekly email newsletters to the workforce that go deeper into a cybersecurity-related topic. The Exchange Post has also been publishing weekly stories about these topics.

The final topic is software updates, which are one of the easiest and most efficient ways to protect yourself against malware and ransomware.

“There are two benefits to maintaining software updates,” said Security Operations Manager Marco Lai. “The first one is you want to get all the fixes to bugs that a software program has as well as all the new features and other fancy stuff.

“On the other hand, you have companies creating patches for their software because they have found that a bad actor has found a vulnerability in their software. The longer you wait to update your software, the more time your software is exposed to those vulnerabilities.”

IT recommends using automatic software updates to keep software up to date. “Some people aren’t going to remember to update, or they’ll say, ‘OK, I’m going to check once a week’,” said Exchange Data Security Analyst Conner Vaughan. “But if you have automatic updates enabled, they automatically update the software whenever a new version is released.”

Here are some other tips from the National Cybersecurity Alliance:

• Automatic updates make your life easier
  • Set it and forget it. You don’t have to check your settings tab every morning
  • Can schedule the updates to happen overnight so it doesn’t interrupt your schedule
• Get updates from the source
  • Only download software from verified sources, and only download apps from your device’s official app store
  • The device, software or app developer itself should be sending you updates, not anyone else
• Don’t fall for fakes
  • On the web, you’ve probably come across suspicious pop-up windows that urgently demand you download a software update. These are always fake; they are attempts at phishing
  • If you see one of these pop-ups, don’t click any buttons and close your browser
• Make it a habit
  • Automatic updates allow you to focus your attention on other things, but if you do not have automatic updates turned on, make it a habit of checking for updates weekly
  • Remember that updates are part of a secure digital lifestyle, and if you embrace them, you’ll have more peace of mind.

To learn more about cybersecurity, visit the National Cybersecurity Alliance by clicking here. To learn more about the Exchange’s Cybersecurity Awareness Team, click here.

Follow ExchangeAssoc Instagram, X and Facebook throughout October for more posts on Cybersecurity Awareness Month topics.