What are the benefits of patching?
Installing patches is a fundamental security hygiene practice. It can prevent security incidents and lower the impact of any incident that does happen.
Updates should be done regularly to:
- reduce the security risk to your business by closing vulnerabilities
- make sure software is up to date, to help with stability and therefore productivity
- add any available functionality updates, so you get the best out of your products
- ensure compliance. Regular and timely updates are often required as part of adherence to standards.
Updates should be done quickly, because once attackers know about software vulnerabilities, they may try to exploit them before the patches become available and are installed. Delay in installation obviously extends the period of time that your software is vulnerable to attack.