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#PatchTuesday - it's real!

If you are in the IT industry, you've heard of Patch Tuesday or know it too well. It was started by Microsoft way back in 2003 to consolidate updates to important applications created by them. It was initially done as a cost-saving to release all the updates simultaneously. Instead of having many mini-launches throughout the month, the thought was to organize one big launch for all the past month's updated patches. This included upgrades to the applications as well as the often-needed security patches to fix issues with security holes that had been identified.  

DNS is an acronym like many others in the IT field. DNS stands for Domain Name System. That is important to know and understand, but so are some of the items associated with the internet protocol used every single time you open a web browser to go to a website or check your email.  Let’s start with the basics.  

People often ask me what Anti-Malware vs. Anti-Virus is. One might remember anti-virus as software on your computer that stops viruses. The problem with that mentality is that this is only one small subset of the different malicious applications and files. Viruses have friends like trojans, spyware, adware, malware, etc. Anti-Malware was a broader-scope attempt to identify and remove malware. This idea came from the likely situation of, “well I am already infected; how do I identify it and get it out?” This leads us to where we are today with multi-faceted applications that do those things and a suite of other features that you may or may not need. It is a highly competitive category in the world of software. These are necessary components of any computer system to ensure that they are protected against known malicious files and malicious behavior. In essence, they are like a security guard on your computer. They watch for known criminals and attempt to catch unknown criminals in the act.  

Why is staying updated on the latest cyber news and happenings important, especially if you want to be in a cyber career?

Passwords…we all have them…lots of them!! So many different logins these days and everyone can’t be the same. Why not? Because if one gets compromised, then they all get compromised. Amazingly enough, in 2021, the most used password was 123456.¹ This should tell you that many people don’t give their passwords much thought.

So, you have high-speed internet at your small office or home - Woohoo!