How To Secure Your Computer: Maxim #5
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To say nothing of Microsoft Windows, there are few, if any, application software packages that are free of security vulnerabilities. The SANS Institute publishes its Top 20 Internet Security Attack Targets on a regular basis and Secunia currently lists 14,043 pieces of software and operating systems with vulnerabilities. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that most reputable software companies, when informed of a vulnerability by security researchers, promptly issue a software patch to fix it. These are widely available to the public for free download or through update features built into the software packages. Windows allows you to turn on Automatic Updates (which you should do). Check the Help menu in other software packages for the update feature.
There’s more bad news, however. Most people don’t keep up with patches on their systems except for Windows updates. Which brings us to computer security Maxim #5:
A vital part of PC security is keeping up with software patches for ALL of the software on your system, not just the operating system. Where it is available, use the software’s automatic updates feature.
Cheers!
The Geek
Have a computer problem? A question about your latest gadget? Click here to Ask the Geek! Kenny “The Geek” Harthun has been playing with geeky stuff since 1965. He’s a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer with Connective Computing, Inc. providing network, desktop and info security support services to a wide range of clients.
Tags: security, software updates, how to, ask the geek, ken harthun, security maxim
One Comment
marc klink
May 30th, 2007
at 1:03pm
The problem with automatic patching, is that your system frequently becomes the ‘guinea pig’ for the repair, as evidenced by MS’s patches to repair the damage done by other patches. It would be impossible for any company to test a complete set of circumstances for any software mix, so they release patched based on the most common configurations. Those who don’t have one of these common configurations, tend to find something broken. Also, unless the break is uncovered immediately, it is difficult to pinpoint.
I would venture to say that almost any mature application today has a lot of ’spaghetti code’. It did not start out that way, but few companies are willing to go back into the source and modify cleanly to repair faults.
For that reason, I think a more prudent thing is to keep a-v and anti-mal software up to date, use a good firewall, behind a router using NAT, and if the program isn’t broken for your specific circumstances, don’t fix it.