Survey finds that 66% of Oracle users never install critical patches
If security is a process, Oracle's users have checked out of the process completely. As CNET's Dawn Kawamoto reports, two-thirds of Oracle users report that they have never installed an Oracle Critical Patch Update (CPU). That's "never" as in "not ever."
The data comes from a survey of Oracle database administrators, consultants, and developers by Sentrigo. It's shocking.
Perhaps it's also a testament to the robust security of Oracle's products. Let's assume that the respondents to this survey are representative of Oracle users generally. With 66% of Oracle's databases essentially unprotected and yet rarely compromised, that says something about their quality.
Or maybe it just means that database hackers are lazy. :-)
More seriously, I wonder why enterprises don't deploy the patches. Are they difficult to implement? Are they not explained well such that database administrators don't know why they should use them?
I don't know, but it would be fascinating to find out. It would also be interesting to know what percentage of MySQL users regularly patch their systems.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
