Millions of PCs Are Running Outdated Versions of Popular Software
55% of all programs worldwide are out-of-date
It is 2019, and millions of computers still either have at least one outdated application installed or run outdated operating systems, making themselves vulnerable to online threats and known security vulnerabilities/exploits.
Many outdated applications, including frameworks and tools, contain vulnerabilities and for security reasons should be updated immediately.For example, in May 2018 7-ZIP fixed an issue in the RAR extraction logic that could allow a DoS attack or execute harmful code embedded in RAR files.
Another popular example is Java: Versions 6, 7 and 8 are still widely installed and no longer up-to-date. Even users who are on the latest Java version 10 release should check for updates regularly to avoid any security issues.
One of the most out-of-date applications is the VLC Media Player. This is likely due to older versions of the software not notifying the users about updates. Skype closely follows, as most users are still on the older version, Skype 7 Classic. Microsoft has not enforced the update to the new Skype 8, but has been gathering user feedback and encouraging users to upgrade.Use Syxsense to detect and then remediate updates. While you could run a comprehensive scan of all devices on a network, you can also run a targeted scan seeking a specific software. Easily see which devices are running which version of an application that might be at risk. From there, it’s simple to set up a task that targets every device that need the update.
