Why companies with websites should always update their software

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Updated software is a crucial part of any company that relies heavily on its websites for its operations. Unfortunately, the use of outdated software is a by-product of cost-cutting programs done by hundreds of businesses. Running obsolete software and legacy systems (OS that no longer under updates), especially for website-reliant companies is a very dangerous game since the security itself of these programs is outdated.

Countless IT horror stories tell of malware and viruses crashing the computers of entire companies, computers that would have been safe had software been up to date. Take for instance the WannaCry ransomware that encrypted all the files of over 160,000 computers. IT experts found that nearly seven out of every ten computers that were hit by WannaCry had Windows 7 as their OS.

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Future versions of Windows have patches that would have detected and blocked or quarantined WannaCry before the ransomware could do its damage. That’s the advantage to updating software.

Now, imagine a company with dozens of computers running on old programs, all of which with their own part to play in maintaining a website. Assuming that all their software is the same, and all their vulnerabilities, identical. All a hacker has to do is look for the weak spot and launch a single attack via the website. It could cripple all operations and bring down the company.

So, do yourself and your company a favor. Check if the software that’s running your website is up to date. If it isn’t, raise the issue to the people who need to know about it.

SiteLock offers web security protection that covers a broad range of services, including website acceleration through improved SEO and bandwidth reduction, DDoS protection, firewall development, and automated detection and removal of malware threats and other related scams. For more web security tips, visit this site.