Friday, 28 March 2014
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Cyber News
Windows XP open invitation to hacker's
The death of Windows XP is just days away, and experts say businesses that don’t upgrade are basically sending an open invitation to cybercriminals.
On April 8, Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) will no longer provide security updates, or “patches,” for its Windows XP operating system. This means computers running on XP — and even machines like ATMs — will be largely unprotected against viruses and cyber attacks.
While Microsoft declined to disclose how many small businesses currently use Windows XP, Forrester Research estimates about 6% of companies’ PCs will still be using it by the April deadline. Experts say those are predominately small and medium-sized firms.
“A year ago, 35% of machines for our small business customers [about 1 million machines] were still on XP,” said Sergio Galindo, general manager with GFI Software, which provides IT support to small and mid-sized businesses. “I couldn’t believe it.” (That’s since dropped to about 23%.)
What does this mean for those businesses on April 9? Not a lot — at first, said Galindo. XP will keep working, and businesses that rely on it will keep functioning.
But the risks will compound over time.
“It’s like expired milk,” said Galindo. “If you drink it one day after it expires, you’re OK. But after a month, the risk is exponentially greater.”
The risk can’t be overstated, said Thomas Hansen, vice president of small and medium business at Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500). In fact, Microsoft’s own research has shown that Windows XP, released in 2001, is five times more susceptible to viruses and cyberattacks than Windows 8, its newest operating system.
Microsoft announced in September 2007 that it was planning to phase out Windows XP in order to give people plenty of time to prepare.
“The world and technology has moved on,” said Hansen. “This is a decade-old technology that doesn’t fit in the modern world.”
Eric Marcus has seen both sides of the issue. His IT firm, Marcus Networking in Tempe, Ariz., caters to small and medium-sized businesses and has updated more than 1,400 workstations in the last five months.
He also spent $20,000 replacing 15 laptops at his own business with machines that run Windows 7.
It’s a cost he budgeted for, but many of his clients have struggled with the expense. “They have to pay for new equipment and our time. It adds up,” he said.
And some businesses, he’s discovered, run proprietary programs that are only compatible with XP.
Microsoft’s Hansen said the company is aware of that problem. “We don’t have the perfect answer yet on how to solve that situation,” he said....
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