In today’s digital world, cybercriminals are constantly on the prowl for easy targets. Failing to update your devices or continually clicking the “remind me later” button is like sending a message to these cyber thieves that your device can be targeted. Delaying updates and ignoring cyber threats can have serious consequences, so it’s crucial to stay vigilant and implement proper security strategies to keep your devices and personal information safe.
In this article, we will help you understand, how you could establish the best strategies to deal with the cyber threat and highlight a few checklists that will help you have better control over your client data.
Here are 3 easy things you can do to manage this risk:
- Update apps as soon as a patch is available: The Australian Cyber Security Centre suggests that an app should be updated within the first 48 hours of a patch being released. This is the average amount of time it takes to develop malicious code and find the ‘unlocked door.
- Turn on automatic updates: It’s easy to forget to manually check for updates. Having automatic updates ensures the patches are applied as soon as the developer releases them.
- Consider using vulnerability scanning software: These scanners constantly monitor apps to identify security risks and vulnerabilities. The ACSC suggests that internet-facing apps and commonly used apps are at the highest risk of being targeted.
Follow this checklist to ensure your devices and software always have the latest protection.
- Ensure your device meets the requirements to support new updates.
- When you purchase a new device, check for updates straight away as part of the initial setup.
- Turn on automatic updates where possible.
- Back up data and files before upgrading your operating system to a newer version.
- Check if your storage is full, devices running low on space can prevent the latest updates from being installed.
- Regularly check for software and application updates if the automatic update setting is unavailable.
