For security risks to minimize it is advisable to always run the latest software on your VPS with Ubuntu 16.04. All packages are fairly easy to upgrade by performing two commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Also keep in mind that you always need to check your operating system that you’re running. Editions are often long supported, but there is an end in a moment. You can find the edition in the VPS information menu. Upgrading to a newer edition of Ubuntu is done with the following command:

sudo do-release-upgrade

Note: Ubuntu brings every two years a Long Term Support (LTS) edition. This edition can only to a newer LTS edition to be upgraded.