diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-golangci-lint.yaml b/.github/workflows/pr-golangci-lint.yaml
index 0c8915b863c1..5e6d284ce3d7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-golangci-lint.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-golangci-lint.yaml
@@ -30,6 +30,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: golangci-lint
         uses: golangci/golangci-lint-action@3a919529898de77ec3da873e3063ca4b10e7f5cc # tag=v3.7.0
         with:
-          version: v1.55.2
+          version: v1.56.0
           args: --out-format=colored-line-number
           working-directory: ${{matrix.working-directory}}
diff --git a/bootstrap/kubeadm/api/v1beta1/kubeadm_types.go b/bootstrap/kubeadm/api/v1beta1/kubeadm_types.go
index 653b4da552e8..67b4f51cd764 100644
--- a/bootstrap/kubeadm/api/v1beta1/kubeadm_types.go
+++ b/bootstrap/kubeadm/api/v1beta1/kubeadm_types.go
@@ -569,7 +569,7 @@ func (bts *BootstrapTokenString) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
 
 // String returns the string representation of the BootstrapTokenString.
 func (bts BootstrapTokenString) String() string {
-	if len(bts.ID) > 0 && len(bts.Secret) > 0 {
+	if bts.ID != "" && bts.Secret != "" {
 		return bootstraputil.TokenFromIDAndSecret(bts.ID, bts.Secret)
 	}
 	return ""
diff --git a/bootstrap/kubeadm/api/v1beta1/kubeadm_types_test.go b/bootstrap/kubeadm/api/v1beta1/kubeadm_types_test.go
index 98aacc8852ea..e8d1e562d84c 100644
--- a/bootstrap/kubeadm/api/v1beta1/kubeadm_types_test.go
+++ b/bootstrap/kubeadm/api/v1beta1/kubeadm_types_test.go
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ func roundtrip(input string, bts *BootstrapTokenString) error {
 	var err error
 	newbts := &BootstrapTokenString{}
 	// If string input was specified, roundtrip like this: string -> (unmarshal) -> object -> (marshal) -> string
-	if len(input) > 0 {
+	if input != "" {
 		if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(input), newbts); err != nil {
 			return errors.Wrap(err, "expected no unmarshal error, got error")
 		}
diff --git a/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta2/bootstraptokenstring.go b/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta2/bootstraptokenstring.go
index 0dca2e0b3b0a..2ad57c137bd0 100644
--- a/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta2/bootstraptokenstring.go
+++ b/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta2/bootstraptokenstring.go
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ func (bts *BootstrapTokenString) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
 
 // String returns the string representation of the BootstrapTokenString.
 func (bts BootstrapTokenString) String() string {
-	if len(bts.ID) > 0 && len(bts.Secret) > 0 {
+	if bts.ID != "" && bts.Secret != "" {
 		return bootstraputil.TokenFromIDAndSecret(bts.ID, bts.Secret)
 	}
 	return ""
diff --git a/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta2/bootstraptokenstring_test.go b/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta2/bootstraptokenstring_test.go
index 154ab8540ef1..c6f33b0430c1 100644
--- a/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta2/bootstraptokenstring_test.go
+++ b/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta2/bootstraptokenstring_test.go
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ func roundtrip(input string, bts *BootstrapTokenString) error {
 	var err error
 	newbts := &BootstrapTokenString{}
 	// If string input was specified, roundtrip like this: string -> (unmarshal) -> object -> (marshal) -> string
-	if len(input) > 0 {
+	if input != "" {
 		if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(input), newbts); err != nil {
 			return errors.Wrap(err, "expected no unmarshal error, got error")
 		}
diff --git a/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta3/bootstraptokenstring.go b/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta3/bootstraptokenstring.go
index 2bb4fda07254..5b0b0aebc3ff 100644
--- a/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta3/bootstraptokenstring.go
+++ b/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta3/bootstraptokenstring.go
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ func (bts *BootstrapTokenString) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
 
 // String returns the string representation of the BootstrapTokenString.
 func (bts BootstrapTokenString) String() string {
-	if len(bts.ID) > 0 && len(bts.Secret) > 0 {
+	if bts.ID != "" && bts.Secret != "" {
 		return bootstraputil.TokenFromIDAndSecret(bts.ID, bts.Secret)
 	}
 	return ""
diff --git a/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta3/bootstraptokenstring_test.go b/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta3/bootstraptokenstring_test.go
index 640c581a6dea..202244fa4e7d 100644
--- a/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta3/bootstraptokenstring_test.go
+++ b/bootstrap/kubeadm/types/upstreamv1beta3/bootstraptokenstring_test.go
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ func roundtrip(input string, bts *BootstrapTokenString) error {
 	var err error
 	newbts := &BootstrapTokenString{}
 	// If string input was specified, roundtrip like this: string -> (unmarshal) -> object -> (marshal) -> string
-	if len(input) > 0 {
+	if input != "" {
 		if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(input), newbts); err != nil {
 			return errors.Wrap(err, "expected no unmarshal error, got error")
 		}
diff --git a/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/mover.go b/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/mover.go
index ca18608d60e4..0232aba2b8b7 100644
--- a/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/mover.go
+++ b/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/mover.go
@@ -967,7 +967,7 @@ func (o *objectMover) createTargetObject(ctx context.Context, nodeToCreate *node
 
 	// FIXME Workaround for https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/32220. Remove when the issue is fixed.
 	// If the resource already exists, the API server ordinarily returns an AlreadyExists error. Due to the above issue, if the resource has a non-empty metadata.generateName field, the API server returns a ServerTimeoutError. To ensure that the API server returns an AlreadyExists error, we set the metadata.generateName field to an empty string.
-	if len(obj.GetName()) > 0 && len(obj.GetGenerateName()) > 0 {
+	if obj.GetName() != "" && obj.GetGenerateName() != "" {
 		obj.SetGenerateName("")
 	}
 
diff --git a/cmd/clusterctl/cmd/util.go b/cmd/clusterctl/cmd/util.go
index 59e1d50e9535..01b65357fd44 100644
--- a/cmd/clusterctl/cmd/util.go
+++ b/cmd/clusterctl/cmd/util.go
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ func printVariablesOutput(template client.Template, options client.GetClusterTem
 		if variableMap[name] != nil {
 			v := *variableMap[name]
 			// Add quotes around any unquoted strings
-			if len(v) > 0 && !strings.HasPrefix(v, "\"") {
+			if v != "" && !strings.HasPrefix(v, "\"") {
 				v = fmt.Sprintf("%q", v)
 				variableMap[name] = &v
 			}
diff --git a/cmd/clusterctl/log/logger.go b/cmd/clusterctl/log/logger.go
index a64e2bb657cd..34435cdea22e 100644
--- a/cmd/clusterctl/log/logger.go
+++ b/cmd/clusterctl/log/logger.go
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ func (l *logger) V(level int) logr.LogSink {
 // WithName adds a new element to the logger's name.
 func (l *logger) WithName(name string) logr.LogSink {
 	nl := l.clone()
-	if len(l.prefix) > 0 {
+	if l.prefix != "" {
 		nl.prefix = l.prefix + "/"
 	}
 	nl.prefix += name
diff --git a/internal/controllers/topology/cluster/desired_state.go b/internal/controllers/topology/cluster/desired_state.go
index 34a7b52a24f9..3e6542d6d062 100644
--- a/internal/controllers/topology/cluster/desired_state.go
+++ b/internal/controllers/topology/cluster/desired_state.go
@@ -1274,7 +1274,7 @@ func templateToObject(in templateToInput) (*unstructured.Unstructured, error) {
 		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to generate name for %s", object.GetKind())
 	}
 	object.SetName(name)
-	if in.currentObjectRef != nil && len(in.currentObjectRef.Name) > 0 {
+	if in.currentObjectRef != nil && in.currentObjectRef.Name != "" {
 		object.SetName(in.currentObjectRef.Name)
 	}
 
@@ -1338,7 +1338,7 @@ func templateToTemplate(in templateToInput) (*unstructured.Unstructured, error)
 		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to generate name for %s", template.GetKind())
 	}
 	template.SetName(name)
-	if in.currentObjectRef != nil && len(in.currentObjectRef.Name) > 0 {
+	if in.currentObjectRef != nil && in.currentObjectRef.Name != "" {
 		template.SetName(in.currentObjectRef.Name)
 	}