Why You Should Patch Your Network: A Simple Guide For Responsible Business Owners

Navigating Threats In The Modern World 

Making sure your business is protected against the many threats that lurk online is a time consuming and complex process, but it’s a responsibility that you have to fulfill. Cybercrimes and those who carry out such acts are constantly evolving and adapting, and it can be hard to prevent these dangers while still maintaining standards across the board elsewhere in your business. That’s exactly why many businesses are choosing to team up with a dedicated managed service provider who boast technological expertise surrounding patching and updating, subsequently offering a level of protection that they may never achieve independently.

Why You Need To Protect (& Patch) Your Network

Failing to acknowledge the true scale of the threats your business faces by enforcing minimal security measures could have a catastrophic impact on your brand as a whole, because without a detailed maintenance program that focuses on patching and updating your network, you will soon find that your security system is totally ineffective leaving you as vulnerable as ever. 

Experiencing a data breach will lead to serious recovery costs and an untold amount of inconvenience for your business (and your reputation), and you may even fall victim to a substantial fine for failing to maintain your security systems, too. A cyber criminal could gain access to all of your data stores and steal your business and customer information, which would no doubt lead to lost trust to say the least. 

Good patch management must always be a priority, as unpatched systems are essentially the digital equivalent of leaving your back door wide open for all to gain entry. 

These implications alone should prove just how vital it is to regularly patch and update your network, but you need to ensure that you have the skills and technical knowledge to complete such a task properly. If you don’t, then you can find a trusted managed service provider like the Iron Edge Group in Sugar Land who can take over the responsibility for you. A bad patch or a low quality update might do more harm than good, so don’t make the mistake of trying to do complex tasks without the right knowledge or equipment. 

What Is Patching?

It’s more than likely that at some point in your lifetime you will have turned on your laptop or computer only to be greeted with a pop up window informing you of a new software update that is available and ready to install. These are commonly known as ‘patches’ and they exist to keep your systems safe in between full upgrades,  protecting your device against risks that have evolved since your last installation. 

Patching makes sure your security is working as it should be, so choosing to hit ‘remind me later’ could compromise your systems safety. Patches provide crucial updates that exist to fix holes and keep your business as protected as possible from the many dangers that await you online, filling in the gaps that might have been missed in any larger update which developers noticed after publication. 

It’s important to note that patches must be applied correctly in order to serve their intended purpose. Working alongside a managed service provider will help you to make the right decisions for your unique business system. 

Chris Turn

Chris Turn