You can pass arguments to avoid getting prompts. This works for me;

apt-get update
apt-get --yes --force-yes -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" upgrade
apt-get --yes --force-yes -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" dist-upgrade

--force-confold (my choice) will make these "What do you want to do about modified configuration file" questions default to N (keep your currently-installed version)

--force-confold: do not modify the current configuration file, the new version is installed with a .dpkg-dist suffix. With this option alone, even configuration files that you have not modified are left untouched. You need to combine it with --force-confdef to let dpkg overwrite configuration files that you have not modified.
--force-confnew: always install the new version of the configuration file, the current version is kept in a file with the .dpkg-old suffix.
--force-confdef: ask dpkg to decide alone when it can and prompt otherwise. This is the default behavior of dpkg and this option is mainly useful in combination with --force-confold.
--force-confmiss: ask dpkg to install the configuration file if it’s currently missing (for example because you have removed the file by mistake).