Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Pixabay.There are thousands of hackers who get up every morning with one goal in mind: to find a new vulnerability in a commonly installed software — like Adobe, Flash or QuickTime — to access your computer.
The major software companies frequently issue patches and updates for known security bugs. However, once a known vulnerability is announced via a patch, hackers get to work like crazy trying to figure out how to use the vulnerability and access those users who are lazy about installing updates.
That’s why it’s important to update installed software programs as soon as possible.
Of course, your IT department or provider is monitoring your network for updates and handling them for you. But your home computers, smartphone and other devices that may not be under their protection probably need a little attention.
Alan Edwards, CISM, is chief information officer at Computerware, Inc., in Vienna, Virginia.