Malicious Updates - CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 - 2.3

Keeping Your Systems Secure: The Importance of Updates

Best Practices for System Updates

• Security professionals emphasize the necessity of keeping operating systems and applications up to date to avoid vulnerabilities associated with older code.

• There is a risk that updates may contain malicious software, as each update can be seen as a new application installation.

• Always back up your system before making any changes; this allows you to revert if something goes wrong during the update process.

• Ensure that updates come from trusted sources; verify the legitimacy of update messages, especially those appearing after visiting third-party sites.

Trusting Update Sources

• If an update message appears unexpectedly while browsing, it may not be legitimate; extra checks are advisable before proceeding.

• Download updates directly from the application developer's site for higher trustworthiness; many operating systems require digital signatures for installations.

• Digital signatures validate that an update is from a legitimate source (e.g., Microsoft, Adobe), enhancing trust in the update process.

Risks Associated with Automatic Updates

• Some applications have built-in update processes that perform security checks automatically, but this does not guarantee legitimacy.

• The SolarWinds incident in December 2020 exemplifies risks where attackers embedded malicious code into legitimate updates, affecting numerous organizations.