Half of businesses suffer IT failures from software updates

Breaking news from ihotdesk, delivering IT Support and IT Outsourcing in London

Posted by Jessie Richards

Firms running virtual hosting services have been told to be wary of software updates, with 50 per cent of them suffering IT failures through improving their programs.

Figures from GFI Software showed that one in two have succumbed to a critical IT failure through installing a bad software patch.

The research also found that a quarter suffered from recurring failures and lost productivity because of poorly-developed updates.

Cristian Florian, product manager at GFI, said: "The stark figures revealed by this research reinforce the importance of testing patches before deploying them in a production environment. Patch management solutions help keep the balance between maintaining productivity - testing patches to make sure they do not interfere with the business environment - and applying security patches in a timely fashion to avoid compromising security."

The importance of security for businesses and organisations is currently at the top of their priority list, with numerous high-profile hacking attempts being made around the world by LulzSec and Anonymous recently.