System Patches and Updates

No matter which of the major operating systems your computer runs, there’s an army of hack­ers good, bad and in-between (“white hats”, “black hats” and “grey hats”) around the world that continuously probes for weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Although Microsoft, Apple and others have made significant strides in writing more secure software over the last few years, the fact is that the software is so complex that new “holes” are discovered on an almost daily basis. For this reason it is vitally important that you download and install system patches, service packs and up­dates (especially those that are security-related) for both your operating system (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, etc.) and your application software (Word, Excel, iTunes, etc.) on a regular basis. At the very least, check for these updates and patches weekly at the sites provided by your operat­ing system’s vendor. Microsoft (www.windowsupdate.com) and Apple (www.apple.com/support/downloads) make this very easy for you to do and even permit you to automate the process. Many linux distributions such as Red Hat, Suse and Debian also have ways to automatically update and patch systems running their software. “Unpatched” systems have historically been the prime breeding ground for many of the most severe computer “malware” outbreaks of the last decade (see next section), even though in some cases such as the “Code Red” virus of 2001, patches that would have prevented infection had been available for more than a year before the outbreak.

Tags: Security, update