Just like the computer that you are reading this blog post on, your web server has a lot of software installed to keep it running. And like all software, it needs to be kept up to date to avoid security issues. Web server security is an enormous topic with many moving parts, many which are often uncomprehendable to the non-teckie.
Seriously though who is updating your web server software?
Your web developer? Unlikely, often web developers have very limited knowledge of the underlying technologies of web servers.
Your web hosting company? Possibly, but unlikely unless you’re paying them to do so.
Your IT team? Unlikely, your IT team is often focused around the computers, laptops and devices around the office and often believe that it is the web developer’s or web hosting company’s job to do this.
As a business owner it is your responsibility to be asking these questions and making sure that you have this part of your cybersecurity looked after. If you don’t know who is looking after this for you, you need to find out. Get in touch if you find out that this is not being looked after, as I suspect is the case for most people reading this blog post. As with all software, it is essential that your web server software is kept up to date to avoid potential cyber attacks.
This is what one small part of updating server software actually looks like to the teckies managing this for you, no pretty user interface, it’s primarily command line management;
Michael Cropper