The Problem With Patches
from the too-many,-not-enough-info,-not-sexy dept
Security folks love to complain about sys admins who don't install software patches and leave themselves open to attacks. However, the fact is that there are so many patches coming out so often, it's impossible to keep up. It's also a boring job just patching software, and there's no real upfront incentive for most systems to make sure that they have the latest patches. As one analyst points out, it's not sexy to be patching software. They also suggest that software vendors need to communicate better the reasons (and importance) of various patches. Since companies (like Microsoft) come out with so many patches, no one knows when it's really time to patch things up.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Patches Smatches
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not always easy in a production environment
So far, I've had two different patches break applications (on the test servers) that a customer relies on. At that point it's meeting time to find work-arounds, risk analysis, etc. At least that part isn't boring...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wasted time?
Just for fun - does anybody wanna charge the software company for this time? hehehe
[ link to this | view in chronology ]