Why Android users should care more about monthly security updates
We store a massive amount of personal data on our phones. Whether you have a flagship or midrange device, your email, personal photos, credit cards, banking info, and more are accessible from your pocket. While most people take care of their phones physically, they may not pay the same care to keeping their phones updated. A notification letting you know there's an update may go ignored because it takes too much time or gets in the way of what you're doing.
Keeping your phone updated makes sure the sensitive data stored on it is kept safe from digital threats. This is why you shouldn't ignore that update notification and update your phone as soon as you see it. In this article, we'll explore the importance of monthly security updates and how they can protect you from digital threats.
What are monthly security updates?
Think of Android as the foundation of your phone's house. While it's solid, over time it develops cracks and vulnerabilities that can be used by hackers to get in. To fix these cracks, you need to patch them to keep your foundation solid and invulnerable.
The patches for this theoretical house are security patches. These monthly patches differ from major OS upgrades or quarterly feature drops that Google Pixel devices receive. Major OS upgrades change how your phone works. They may change things visually, alter how you interact with your phone, add new features, or modify existing features. These updates usually happen once a year, but it seems like they'll happen more frequently going forward.
Security updates are less prominent. They fix vulnerabilities behind the scenes while affecting the user experience as little as possible, if at all. They are issued frequently to keep up with new vulnerabilities that are discovered and patch them quickly.
Why monthly updates are so important
There are situations in which hackers find exploits before a patch is issued. These are called "zero-day" exploits and are leveraged by hackers quickly, since devices don't have protection against them. Google and its partners release a patch as soon as possible, which is released in the monthly update.
By installing the update, you minimize the time your phone is exposed to this exploit and ensure your data is as safe as possible. If you ignore these updates, you leave your phone open to more exploits for longer, making it more vulnerable to more threats with each missed update.
The risks of ignoring monthly security updates
Many people may feel that stopping what they're doing to wait for an update to install every month is annoying and tedious. However, these excuses are not worth the risk of having your data stolen. The update takes too long or makes my phone restart, you can set updates to install overnight when you're not using your phone.
This way, it's set when you wake up. This can minimize the disturbance when using your device and keep you safe at the same time.
Don't rely on VPNs or antivirus apps alone
VPNs protect others from seeing what you're doing on your phone. Antivirus apps are great for scanning downloaded files and apps to make sure they are free from malware. Neither of these solutions fixes or blocks issues with the underlying operating system that they operate within.
Secure your Google account right now
Your digital life is worth protecting. As soon as you see an update notification, take time to install it. You can also manually check for updates by going to Settings > System > System Update if you want to be proactive.
There are Android settings you can change to make your phone more secure. By keeping up with monthly security updates, you'll be protecting yourself from digital threats and keeping your personal data safe.