Background
Software updates are critical to a modern business-computing environment. With the prevalence of technology in the workplace, devices are prime targets of a variety of computing attacks. Software manufacturers are routinely releasing security patches to vulnerabilities discovered in their software, and our job is to ensure that our devices are kept up-to-date with the latest patches. SMPH policy requires that security updates are installed within 30 days of release.
Below is a summary of software update procedures Psychiatry uses for the different device platforms.
macOS Software Updates
Latest release notes
macOS 11.x Big Sur https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211896
macOS 12.x Monterey https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212585
macOS 13.x Ventura https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213268
Apple releases macOS updates approximately once per month. Available updates will be indicated by a red dot on top of the System Preferences icon with a number indicating the number of updates available.
Users can click this icon to open the Software Update utility inside of System Preferences. It will look something like this.
The Update Now button will initiate a download of the updates. This button will change to a Restart Now button when the updates are fully downloaded. Users can choose to click the Restart Now button to restart the computer and install the updates. Please note that updates can take up to 30-40 minutes to complete so users should plan to reboot the computer when the downtime is acceptable, such as during a lunch break or at the end of the day. The updates also require that the device is connected to power or that it has enough battery power to complete the update without running out of power in the process.
Nudge
Our IT department utilizes a program called Nudge to remind users to install important updates in a timely manner. SMPH policy requires that devices receive security updates within 30 days of release to ensure that devices are protected against attacks. Sometimes critical updates need to be installed sooner because the risk is very high. In order to facilitate software update compliance, we use Nudge to repeatedly prompt users that updates are needed.
Nudge will repeatedly prompt users that updates are needed and provide details about the deadline to install the updates. Users have the option to defer updates until a later date until the deadline is reached. The prompts are designed to become increasingly aggressive as the deadline approaches to “nudge” the user to install the updates.
The Update Device button will open the Software Updates utility described above so the user can follow Apple’s steps to install the updates. Once the device has the required updates installed, Nudge will stop prompting the user.
With this method, end users can decide when to reboot their devices to install the updates.
