How good is your IT staff?
Are they staying current when it comes to applying all the latest security patches? Unfortunately, the answer for most businesses is, "probably not as good as you think."
According to research conducted by Bitdefender, a staggering 64 percent of unpatched vulnerabilities discovered on corporate networks in 2020 involve bugs that date back to 2018 and before.
Almost all breaches are caused by unpatched software
This mind-blowing statistic has serious implications for your company, no matter what business you're in, and no matter how large or small your firm might be.
What the key finding means, in a nutshell, is that of the US businesses with one or more un-patched piece of code running on their network, there are fixes available for nearly two-thirds of them. Worse, those fixes have literally been available for years. Not taking advantage of them is, from the perspective of a hacker, like leaving a neon sight above the front door of your business that reads, "we don't lock up at night - please, come in and steal from us!"
Patching ain't sexy, but it must be done
Everyone in the industry knows and understands that keeping up with all the latest patches for the software deployed across even a small network can be both frustrating and time-consuming. It's certainly not one of the more glamorous aspects of the job.
Even so, it is absolutely critical, and it pays to do a periodic survey of all the software installed on your network and how long it's been since a security patch was applied. If you're looking for an inexpensive way to bolster the security of your company's network, making sure all the latest software security updates are installed should be your first stop.
Our perspective
Even if that's all you wind up doing, taking that one simple step will dramatically improve the overall security of your network, and that's a very good thing.
~ As Ron White would opine: "There is no fixing stupid" ~
By Denis Wilson and Melissa Stockwell
Thanks for reading this short post. For more tips on thriving with small business technology, check out the other blog posts at DWPIA Blogs. You can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
I am also a published author and speaker in cloud computing and cybersecurity, working extensively with business and professional associations to provide small business technology education programs. Contact me if you would like me to speak at your association
