DID YOU KNOW?: Windows is constantly saving temporary files that will eventually bloat your system.  

All of these files lower your device’s overall performance and take up important drive storage space. The first thing to do if you are noticing unusually slow speeds on your devices is to clear your cache, which is infinitely easier than you think. 

1. Click Start and type Disk Cleanup
2. Select the Disk Cleanup App
3. Check the box next to Temporary files
4. Click OK

Seriously, it’s four steps in Windows 10. That’s it!

It may not be at the top of your Google News alerts, but patch management is an incredibly important topic to follow in the current IT climate. Around the globe, businesses are under relentless attack by digital adversaries, and the simplest steps toward a safer business climate are right under our noses. Here’s more from the news: 

A people-centric approach to hybrid work cybersecurity | Security Magazine 

Key Takeaways: 

1. Verizon’s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report found that an overwhelming majority of attacks now involve human error, as less secure remote workers spend more time online.  
    
2. Another major problem is “credential stuffing”, a type of cyberattack where stolen account credentials, like lists of usernames and/or email addresses and corresponding passwords, are used to gain unauthorized access to user accounts through large-scale automated login requests. 
    
3. WFH employees coming and going from digital communities in corporate environments from their home networks with laptops and USB drives are often the culprits of spreading malware, however accidental it may be. 

CISOs see opportunities amid heightened cybersecurity risks | Healthcare IT News 

Key Takeaways: 

1. Erik Decker, CISO at Intermountain Healthcare, explained how the role of the healthcare chief information security officer has changed substantially in recent years:
     
   1. "We have moved beyond data. It's not just about privacy and confidentiality anymore. What about resiliency? Cybersecurity is patient safety. Downtime means delay of care, and delay of care means patient safety. That is our charge." 
       
   2. “…cybersecurity is the number one risk to the clinic – because it's probably the only thing that can disable delivery of care for weeks, if not months.” 
       

We’re not talking about famous American physician Dr. ​​Patch Adams, or the Cabbage Patch Kids, or the thing your caregiver used to cover the rip in your jeans. No, patches here mean the pesky “Updates Available!” notifications you get all the time on your device. 

Rather than roll your eyes and continually click “Update Later”, your team should have a system in place to automatically run updates as soon as they’re justifiably ready to commence – that is to say, as soon as running the patch update won’t interrupt business, it must happen. 

In fact, according to a Ponemon Institute survey:   

1. 62% were unaware that their organizations were vulnerable prior to the data breach 
    
2. 60% of breach victims said they were breached due to an unpatched known vulnerability where a patch update was simply not applied
    
3. 52% of respondents said their organizations are at a disadvantage in responding to vulnerabilities because they use manual processes.  

Patches aren’t just something to do when you get around to it, they directly address known vulnerabilities with a secure answer to the problem. Doing so helps ensure that assets in your digital systems are not susceptible to exploitation through such common problems during software development.  

To learn more about what patches are, how they work, and why regular patch updates are so critical, check out our blog on the topic.

Conclusion

Creating a well-suited and automated patch management system is the difference between operating at your fullest capacity and sitting back while you watch a cybercriminal take client information out of your computer. We can’t stress enough how critical these simple, straightforward preventative measures can be at securing your data. 

Anyway, if you made it this far, we're guessing you see value in protecting yourself against digital intrusion and want to learn more about how to stay safe. Give us a call at (864) 552-1291 and we'll help you evaluate capabilities and options. Also consider following us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter!