Security Basics: Patching

[Alessandro Bottonelli <abottonelli () libero it>]

A thought has been crossing my mind for a long time, I'd like to confront it 
with the list.

In the "old days" a patch and/or fix was defined as "something that closes a 
known hole and opens ten unknown holes" :-) Yet, literature and common 
practices keep saying we should maintain our systems and network appliances 
up to date with the last patches / software releases.

WHY should I feel safer that way? How can I tell Rev. 1.3 is any better 
(security-wise) than Rev. 1.2 ? Is the cost (financial and others) of change 
management worth it? If so, how can I measure such worthness?

Too much caffeine on a rainy Monday morning, in usually sunny Italy? :-)

-- 
Alessandro Bottonelli
www.axis-net.it

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