Ikea Patched for Shellshock by Methodically Upgrading All Servers

Glantz explained that Ikea has more than 3,500 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) servers deployed in Sweden and around the world. With Shellshock, every single one of those servers needed to be patched and updated to limit the risk of exploitation.

Glantz visually displayed the system-management approach with a graphic instruction manual that showed the parts in a manner similar to how a typical Ikea furniture assembly pamphlet looks.

It's critical to enforce a system-management process that keeps servers and application software on the latest versions, Glantz said. He warned that if an enterprise doesn't enforce that mandate, inevitably, the majority of systems will be running older versions and it will be more difficult to scale, manage and patch.