We are all aware that maintenance patches and updates are important to maintain systems to the best they can be, to prevent some attacks, but perhaps we need to look more closely at the way in which we operate those updates.
The analogy I’d like to use here is the UK Bob-sleigh team, led by Brad Hall, who helped Britain to win their first medal in 84 years. The margin for error is so tiny, but can be so catastrophic and likewise, tiny improvements can make all the difference towards fractional seconds and winning or losing. This bears a resemblance to the ways in which one small change can make all the difference between success and painful failure when running an IT project.
The maintenance of systems needs to be a PROJECT in themselves with checks and balances and testing before going live. The network issues of some of these major companies shows that even when trying to do the right thing, errors still occur. Our approach to maintenance needs to improve and become more robust and have a process and quality control.
Interesting story: NETWORK DOWN