System Administrators and Patch Management - Information sources for Patch Decision Making

本论文的目标是了解负责将补丁/更新应用到核心业务技术系统的系统管理员(系统管理员)的信息来源和收集行为。我们对此很感兴趣，因为补丁程序通常包含安全/漏洞修复程序，可以填补系统中的漏洞。因此，如果不及时应用上述补丁，系统管理员可能会增加这些漏洞被恶意攻击者利用的风险。这将通过研究：1.系统管理员的在线社区，因为他们通过论坛和邮件列表共享信息。对工业环境中的系统管理员在处理日常工作流程问题时进行的人种学研究。这些数据将用于了解与信息源相关的信任和风险关系，以及系统管理员对这些在线社区进行信息验证的依赖。所采取的方法使用了网络抓取、网络人种学、定性代码簿设计和应用以及人种学/上下文查询技术。新颖的工程学内容是修补信息的社会技术影响及其对修补决策的理论化影响。意见将被用来为更新反馈系统提出设计见解，以帮助及时应用补丁。

The objectives of this thesis is to understand the information sources and gathering behaviours of system administrators (sysadmins) tasked with the application of patches/updates to core business technological systems. We are interested in this as patches often contain security/ vulnerability fixes which plug holes in systems. Therefore, without timely application of said patches, sysadmins will potentially increase their risk of these vulnerabilities being exploited by malicious attackers.This will be done through studying:1. Online communities of sysadmins, as they share information through forums and mailing lists.2. Ethnographic studies of sysadmins in industrial settings as they deal with day-to-day workflow problems.This data will be used to understand the trust and risk relationships that relate to information sources and sysadmins' reliance on these Online communities for information verification.The approaches taken used web-scraping, web-ethnography, qualitative code-book design and application, and an ethnographic/ contextual inquiry technique.The novel engineering content is the social-technical impact of patching information and its theorized impact on patching decisions. Insights will be used to propose design insights for update feedback systems to aid with the timely application of patches.