There are a lot of things that aren’t sexy, or exciting about computers (even to computer nerds like us). One of those things is Windows and software security patches and updates. However, these are the foundation of keeping your business’ computers secure and protected from viruses, hackers, and scammers.
Think you’re not at risk just because you’re small? Think again. Criminals target small businesses like yours because they consider you low-hanging fruit. Easy prey. They know that most small businesses don’t have the knowledge or resources to properly protect themselves against cyber-attacks. Further, most of these attacks are automated, perpetrated by software programs (such as malware) to seek out and infect computers with poor security and un-patched software.
When I talk with most small business owners they believe that they are fine. After all, their computers are all set to perform “automatic updates”, right? However, when we investigate we find that nearly every computer is woefully behind with patches. Plus, when pressed, all employees admit that when prompted by a program to install a patch, or reboot to complete the installation, the majority simply cancel or postpone the action. Why? Because it takes time.
Further, patches often fail. Unfortunately, without knowing where to look, and then actually looking, you will never know if the required security patches are properly installed or not. Unless you are pouring through your server and computer system logs on a regular basis, you cannot really know if a patch was successful or not.
What you really need is a system that not only monitors and approves patches for Windows and third-party software, but also includes some human oversight to verify that everything is functioning, and computers are truly being patched, as they should be.
There is, of course, a lot more to this issue, but the main thing you should know is that most small businesses do not protect themselves by properly patching their computer systems, and that no completely automated system is 100% reliable. There is, of course a solution. For more information on how to protect your business, see my free report here.