Ignoring Software Updates Can Harm Your Devices

It never fails. You’re working hard on your computer, smartphone or tablet and that annoying message pops out of nowhere saying “a software update is available”. In most cases you click “cancel” instead of “install”, saying to yourself "I'll get to it later, but you never do them. Does this sound familiar? The truth is it’s easy to get in the habit of skipping software updates because they don't seem that important and they take so darn long to install. But not doing them allows cyber criminals access to your personal information, putting you at risk for identity theft, loss of money, credit, and more.

You remember the Equifax data breach, right? Well did you know a hackers were able to access Equifax's data because they failed to perform software updates? It's true. Hackers were able to break in through a known vulnerability in a web application. The sad part is that a fix for this security hole was actually available two months before the breach. Software updates are important because they often include critical patches to security holes.