Whether you use a phone, a tablet, a laptop or a PC to connect to the Internet, they all have one thing in common. They all use software that is vulnerable if you don’t keep it updated.
The majority of the software on your device will need to be updated at some point. When software is first released it will inevitably contain bugs that will only get discovered once lots of people start using the software after its release. One type of bug will be security vulnerabilities. Cyber criminals are constantly looking for vulnerabilities and flaws that can be exploited in all types of software to allow them to compromise the device on which that software is installed. This often results in malware.
The bigger and more complex the software, the larger number of security vulnerabilities that will crop up. For example, the operating system that is installed on the device. For most PC users – that’s whatever version of Windows you’re running. Bugs and vulnerabilities are being discovered in Window all of the time, and Microsoft release patches (a word used to describe updates that fix bugs) every single month.
Most of the time, the security issues are non-critical, meaning that they haven’t been discovered by criminals yet, and even if they were, the issues would be difficult to exploit or wouldn’t affect a large number of users.
However, some of the time, the issues are critical. This means that the exploit is easier to execute, and/or would affect a large number of users. In some cases this also means criminals have discovered the vulnerability already (before the software developer) and are already trying to exploit it. That is what is known as a zero-day attack – (or zero-day vulnerability) meaning the developer had zero days’ notice to the attack.
If you don’t update your software, you dramatically increase your chance of being the victim of cyber-crime. You see, most online scams need you to fall for them by making a mistake. However, if you use out-dated software, criminals can exploit known vulnerabilities without the pre-requisite of the victim making any mistakes or unwise choices (the mistake has already been made, by not updating!)
The easiest example is visiting a webpage. If you update your software, with the exception of zero-day attacks that haven’t been fixed yet, for a webpage to install malware on your computer it needs the victim to make a mistake. However if you don’t update your software you don’t need to make a mistake – you merely need to visit a webpage and you can find yourself infected with malware, because a vulnerability was exploited – a vulnerability that would not have existed if you had updated your software.
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It is important to know how to update your software properly, because many cyber criminals try and trick users into downloading fake updates that contain malware. Popular software like Windows, Andoid, iOS, and popular antivirus software will allow you to update behind the scenes automatically, so you don’t get prompted. It is recommended to turn this feature on.
Other types of software will prompt you to update them when you open up the software itself. In Windows, software can also prompt you to update it through notification bubbles at your system tray in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Remember though: Don’t trust prompts to update software that unexpectedly appear as pop-ups on your screen, especially if these appear after you’ve just visited a webpage. They could be malicious. If you’re not sure if an update prompt is legitimate, ask someone before installing or contact the software developer.
The most common updates (or requests to update) will come from your devices operating system. As we mentioned above, for PC users this will be Windows. For Mac users it will be the Mac OS version, for iPhone it is iOS, for Android phone it’s… well Android. It’s usually the largest piece of software on the device and thus needs more regular updates. It is the most important piece of software to keep updated.
Some pre-installed programs will also get updated when the operating system updates, meaning they don’t need updating separately. For example, Windows Updates will also update other Microsoft owned programs that are on your computer as well as drivers.
Your Internet browser is also important to update since this is your gateway to the potentially hazardous world of cyberspace. Depending on what browser you use this may be different, so refer to the developer of the browser. Most default, pre-installed browsers will update when the operating system updates. Your antivirus is also really important to update to make sure you are protected against the latest online threats.
Other types of software that you use frequently like Adobe Reader, Flash, Skype, WhatsApp and SnapChat are also important to keep updated, so keep an eye out for those notifications and refer to their documentation on how to update.
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