Due to the recent increase in the number of security vulnerabilities being published (e.g., Meltdown & Spectre) and the attention that these are being given, it is more important than ever that your system firmware and BIOS are regularly updated to ensure that the latest security fixes and mitigations have been applied.
To simplify this, we have collated the tables of resources below, which provide specific links for client and server systems that we have sold.
We recommend that you check for updates regularly and implement any updates as part of your regular maintenance window.
We advise that you perform some due diligence before rolling out BIOS or firmware updates to your estate of computers and follow the below guidelines:
- Patch a small sample and test these for performance and stability first.
- Wait two weeks once an update has been released before rolling out (during which the time you can complete the due diligence testing mentioned above), as previously early BIOS and firmware updates have shown some performance issues.
- However, ensure that you have a plan ready to apply the upgrade immediately should the urgency change.
- If you are buying new hardware, then please check that the system has the latest BIOS and firmware installed before adding to your network.
- It is essential that you ensure you follow all of the hardware suppliers' recommendations when updating the system BIOS or firmware.
- It is recommended that if BitLocker is enabled on your computer, you suspend it prior to running a BIOS / UEFI update. Once the computer has rebooted after the update, please enable BitLocker.
- The original equipment manufacturer (OEM) has provided a BIOS update that you can find here. These updates will remove RM branding from splash and BIOS screens for RM computers. They may also reset any custom settings which you have applied, please ensure these settings are still present after any update and re-apply where necessary.
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