Security, Availability, and Multiple Information Sources: Exploring Update Behavior of System Administrators
This addresses the problem of IT security at scale for system administrators, but it is incremental as it builds on prior user-focused research.
The study investigated system administrators' update behavior in corporate environments, finding that even experienced administrators struggle with update processes due to difficulties in assessing consequences, such as downtime or lack of information.
Experts agree that keeping systems up to date is a powerful security measure. Previous work found that users sometimes explicitly refrain from performing timely updates, e.g., due to bad experiences which has a negative impact on end-user security. Another important user group has been investigated less extensively: system administrators, who are responsible for keeping complex and heterogeneous system landscapes available and secure. In this paper, we sought to understand administrators' behavior, experiences, and attitudes regarding updates in a corporate environment. Based on the results of an interview study, we developed an online survey and quantified common practices and obstacles (e.g., downtime or lack of information about updates). The findings indicate that even experienced administrators struggle with update processes as the consequences of an update are sometimes hard to assess. Therefore, we argue that more usable monitoring and update processes are essential to guarantee IT security at scale.