2022 is coming to an end and we can easily say it has not been an uneventful year in terms of data breaches and hacks. Some huge companies endured data breaches this year. Companies that have millions of users such as:
- Optus – 1.1 million users
- Twitter – 5.4 million users
- Neopets – 69 million users
- Texas Department of Insurance – 1.8 million users
- Medibank – 3.9 million users
This list doesn’t even cover 1% of the data breaches that companies endured throughout 2022. And we’re talking about global companies with thousands of employees working around the clock to ensure that their customers’ data is safe. So how do these breaches occur?
Hackers are constantly looking to find ways to hack systems. Especially systems that are used by millions of users. On the other hand, vendors are working relentlessly to shield their customers from these hacks, however, there are certain actions you must take to protect yourself too.
Software Updates. Install them!
There are many reasons why vendors come out with new updates. We decided to focus on the top 5 to highlight why you should always update your software when a new release is made available.
- Security updates: you probably already knew this would be first on the list considering the intro made above. Software vulnerabilities enable cybercriminals to access your computer. Threat actors see these vulnerabilities as open doors, enabling them to plant malware. Updates detect these vulnerabilities and stop cybercriminals from entering your network.
- New Features: updates offer the latest features and improvements and remove old features that may not be working correctly or are no longer needed.
- Protect Data: if a threat actor manages to get through to your system via a security flaw, they will try to expose personal data such as passwords, usernames etc. Updates include data protection improvements to prevent this from happening.
Performance Improvement: by keeping your software up to date you ensure that you’re always running the best performing version of that software. - Ongoing Compatibility: your software may offer integrations and compatibility with third-party software or hardware. To ensure the continuous operation of these integrations, vendors include compatibility improvements in their updates.
Apart from keeping your software up to date, there are other actions you can take to secure your data and specifically your PBX. Read our blog post on PBX Security to see what you can do.
