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Think about the last time you clicked "remind me later" on a software update prompt. It probably felt harmless. You were in the middle of something, the timing was bad, and it could wait until later. The problem is that "later" often becomes next week, then next month, and sometimes never. And in the gap between a security patch being released and it being applied, your devices are running software that the vendor has publicly admitted contains a vulnerability.
This week, Canonical shipped a new point release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, bundling security fixes across ten different variants of the operating system. That kind of coordinated release is routine -- every major OS vendor does it, repeatedly, throughout the year. The news is not really about Ubuntu specifically. The news is about what it illustrates: operating systems require constant security maintenance, and if you are not keeping up, you are leaving known holes open.
What Is Actually Happening When an OS Update Ships
When a vendor releases a security update, they are doing two things at once. They are closing a vulnerability in their software. They are also, by publishing the details, telling every attacker in the world that the vulnerability exists. Before the patch, the flaw was largely unknown outside of whoever discovered it. After the patch, it is documented. Anyone who has not yet applied the update is now running software with a publicly known weakness.
This is why the timing of applying patches matters as much as applying them at all. Security researchers and attackers both monitor patch notes. The window between release and widespread adoption is a period of elevated risk, not business as usual.
Why LTS Versions Exist -- and What They Actually Promise
"LTS" stands for Long Term Support. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is supported with security updates until 2029. Microsoft offers similar long-term commitments on enterprise versions of Windows. The purpose of an LTS designation is to give businesses a stable base that receives security fixes without forcing constant major upgrades.
What LTS does not mean is "set and forget". The whole point is that the vendor keeps shipping security fixes for years. If you are not applying those fixes, you have the worst of both worlds: old software, with known vulnerabilities, and no patches applied. The LTS promise is about availability of updates, not automatic protection.
Most UK SMEs Run Windows -- But the Lesson Is the Same
If your business runs Windows rather than Linux, this is still directly relevant. Microsoft ships security updates every month -- the second Tuesday, known in IT circles as Patch Tuesday. In a single release earlier this year, Microsoft addressed nearly a thousand vulnerabilities at once. That scale is not typical, but monthly updates fixing dozens of issues are entirely normal.
The underlying pattern is identical regardless of platform. A vulnerability exists. The vendor finds it, or someone reports it. A patch is written and tested. The patch is released. You apply it -- or you do not. If you do not, you are running software that the vendor has publicly flagged as insecure.
The Part That Catches Businesses Out
Most business owners understand that updates are important in principle. What tends to go wrong in practice is the gap between understanding and execution. A few common patterns that leave businesses exposed:
- Updates are set to manual and nobody checks. On a device that rarely prompts the user, months can pass without anyone noticing that patches are queued up and waiting.
- Updates get deferred because of business disruption. A restart at an inconvenient moment gets postponed, and the postponement becomes permanent.
- Only the obvious devices get patched. Laptops and desktops might be relatively current, but older servers, shared machines, or devices used infrequently can fall behind without anyone realising.
- Third-party software is overlooked. OS patches are one layer. Applications -- browsers, productivity suites, design tools, accounting software -- each have their own vulnerability lifecycles and need the same attention.
What Patching Consistently Actually Requires
For a business with more than a handful of devices, keeping track of patch status manually becomes unreliable quickly. The practical answer is not more discipline -- it is removing the manual element. Automated patch management handles the scheduling, the deployment, and the verification that patches have actually landed, without depending on individual users to click the right button at the right time.
If you want visibility across your entire device estate -- knowing which machines are current and which are not -- that sits naturally alongside centralised endpoint management. You cannot patch what you cannot see, and you cannot verify coverage without a consistent view of every device on your network.
For businesses that want a structured way to assess where their current patch posture actually stands, vulnerability scanning surfaces the gaps before an attacker does. It is also a requirement for Cyber Essentials Plus -- the higher of the two Cyber Essentials certification tiers -- which includes a technical verification that systems are patched and up to date.
The Practical Takeaway
You do not need to follow every OS release from every vendor to run a secure business. What you do need is a consistent, verifiable process for making sure that when patches ship, they are applied to every device in a reasonable timeframe. "Reasonable" in most guidance means within 14 days for high and critical vulnerabilities, and within 30 days for lower-severity fixes.
If you are not confident that is happening across your business right now, that is worth investigating. It is one of the most straightforward things to get right -- and one of the most common things that gets quietly neglected until something goes wrong.