Patching 🩹 - a nuisance, or a must?

Do you know what Asus, Netgear, and HPE Aruba have in common?

They are all networking gear manufacturing giants, whose products are immensely popular among small office / home office (SOHO) users. They are considered best-in-class by many tech professionals and reviewers, and your small business most likely has a router, a switch, or similar piece of hardware, built by these three. 

You know what else they have in common? High-severity vulnerabilities that crooks abuse to access the network and do all kinds of nasty things. I discussed what they usually do when they break in, in my earlier newsletter, “Why you should care about cybersecurity” so make sure to give it a read.

Just look at a few of these headlines:

Asus patches serious security flaw across multiple routers — update now if you have any of these models - June 2024

Your cheap Netgear router might have some serious security flaws — here's what we know so far - June 2024

HPE Aruba patches critical security flaws across access points - September 2024

It doesn’t mean the products are bad. All equipment, regardless of who builds it, has critical vulnerabilities. The difference is - the best companies seek them out and patch them as soon as possible.

The eleventh commandment

“You shall patch your stuff ASAP”

If Moses were alive today, he’d probably tell you to patch up. Patching is one of the four core pillars of cybersecurity, next to strong passwords, powerful security solutions, and mindfulness with downloads. 

“But Sead, there are so many things to look out for! I won’t have any time left to run my business,” I hear you say resignedly. 

Well, if you don’t patch, you won’t have a business to run. Sooner or later, someone will abuse a gaping hole you left for months, and use it to crumble everything you’ve been building for years.

Also, patching really isn’t that big of a deal. There are plenty of patch management solutions out there that significantly simplify the process. Patch management software gives you a bird’s view of all of the software you have installed, and notifies you when a patch is available for any of them. You can also schedule updating so that it doesn’t interfere with your day-to-day work, and plan your patches for the long-term.

Some of the programs are free, others cost a little money. It’s hard to recommend a specific tool because it depends on how you run your business, but if you go with any of the top tools recommended by most reviewers out there - you can’t go wrong.

In any case, I can definitely recommend grabbing one of these tools and just keeping your software updated. It will save you time, money, and plenty of headaches!

Until next time!

• Sead from SmallBiz CyberWiz