Survey of Oracle Database Professionals Reveals Most Do Not Apply Security Patch

Sentrigo has been conducting the rolling survey at Oracle Users Group (OUG) meetings across the country, beginning in August 2007 at the Capital Area OUG in Reston, Va., and continuing in cities such as Chicago, Portland, Salt Lake City, Charlottesville and Cincinnati. The company has collected responses from 305 professionals, mostly database administrators as well as consultants and developers.

Results highlight that most organizations are not taking advantage of Oracle CPUs in a timely manner, if at all. Findings include:

* When asked: “Have you installed the latest Oracle CPU?” – Just 31 people, or ten percent of the 305 respondents, reported that they applied the most recently issued Oracle CPU.

* When asked: “Have you ever installed an Oracle CPU?” – 206 out of 305 OUG attendees surveyed, or 67.5 percent of the respondents said they had never applied any Oracle CPU.

"This survey scares the heck out of me," said Mike Rothman, president and principal analyst, Security Incite. "The database is where most of an organization's critical and regulated data resides and if it's not patched in a timely fashion, organizations are asking for trouble."