October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. This week's cyber security "Tip of the Week" from ITS is to shut down or restart your computer at least weekly--and whenever your programs tell you to in order to install updates.
Updates (also known as "patches") help protect your computer from attackers and some kinds of malicious software. Some updates require you to restart your computer for them to go into effect, and you may or may not be notified when this is the case. Whether your computer is being patched for you or you do it yourself, shutting down or restarting your computer regularly helps to make sure software and security updates are properly installed and are protecting your computer and information.
For questions or additional information, contact the ITS Support Center: itrequest.ucsc.edu, help@ucsc.edu, 459-HELP, 54 Kerr Hall.
Additional cyber security information is also available on the ITS Security Awareness web site: http://its.ucsc.edu/security_awareness/.
