What is happening?
Beginning this month, Information Technology will be rapidly shifting the approach to the way updates and upgrades are released to Bowdoin-owned computers and software for both macOS and Windows. Historically, some updates and upgrades were optional and there were options to indefinitely defer or prevent updates from installing.
Given the continually heightened risks around technology, these updates and upgrades will become non-optional moving forward.
Why is this happening?
To help mitigate risks around computers being vulnerable to attacks, IT must ensure that they are all kept up to date. A number of institutions have suffered from debilitating cyber attacks because their computers and software were not updated to the latest versions.
What does it mean for me?
This will mean that if updates have not been allowed when requested the computer may automatically patch and restart at inopportune times. It could also mean that IT Staff may need reach out to address computers or software that is not upgrading on time or correctly and bring them up to date.
Because of the number of updates that may be required, and the need to update operating systems to the latest available version to remain in compliance, computers could become unavailable for longer times to allow for the updates and upgrades to take place. There may also be instances where IT removes out-dated or potentially unused software from your computer which would require a fresh install if you still need it.