Secunia reports that it surveyed 20,000 users of its security scanning product, Secunia Personal Software Inspector, and found a startling number of Windows PCs running unpatched versions of at least one program. According to the security company, more than 45 percent of surveyed users' computers are running 11 or more insecure applications.A new report from Secunia serves as a reminder for users to patch their
systems.
According to data gathered from 20,000 users of Secunia PSI (Personal
Software Inspector) 1.0 during the past seven days, roughly 98 percent were
running unpatched programs. Roughly 30 percent had one to five insecure
programs running on their Windows PCs; 25 percent had six to 10. The restabout
45 percenthad 11 or more out-of-date programs.
Secunia PSI works by scanning Windows systems for installed applications and
checking to see if the most current versions of those applications are
installed. If not, the program makes a note and then provides a link to the
updated version.
Click here to read about Microsoft's plan to phase out Windows Live OneCare.
The most recent numbers are actually worse than when Secunia conducted the
same survey nearly a year ago. In January, the vendor reported that roughly 95
percent of the about 20,000 PCs it included in the survey were running at least
one unpatched program.
The good news is that according to the most recent Microsoft Security
Intelligence Report, the number of unique vulnerability disclosures across the
industry decreased 4 percent during the first half of 2008, continuing a
decline that began in the second half of 2007. Still, users should take note of
the importance of having their applications up-to-date.
"It is just as important to patch your programs
against security threats as it is to have a personal firewall and anti-virus
program running," said a Secunia
blog post.
Network Security & Hardware 
