14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft pulled the plug on Windows XP support on April 8, leaving thousands of organizations and millions of users vulnerable to attacks if someone finds an unpatched vulnerability in the operating system.
Governments and large companies across the world rushed to either upgrade their computers or negotiate custom support deals with Microsoft that would protect their Windows XP machines until the transition to a newer operating system is finalized.
New Zealand's Tauranga City Council signed a Windows XP upgrade deal worth $1.3 million (€1 million) on October 12 without telling anyone, only days before the election that in the end kicked out seven out of the 10 members.
The biggest problem here isn't necessarily the fact that the council approved such an expensive upgrade deal, but the way they did it, as the $1.35 million investment wasn't included in last year's budget and remained confidential until this week when it was published in the Finance and Risk Committee.
SunLive writes that the former members of the council explained the secrecy behind the deal by pointing to the security risks of running unsupported software. Microsoft warns that computers running Windows XP could become vulnerable to attacks if hackers discover unpatched flaws in the operating system.
What's interesting, however, is that Windows XP end of support took place on April 8, 2014, while the council approved the upgrade deal in October 2013 when the operating system was still receiving updates and security patches from Microsoft.
This means that their computers weren't yet exposed to attacks, so this whole secrecy that was actually supposed to protect machines from getting hacked wasn't actually needed.
Microsoft has signed custom Windows XP support with several large companies and government bodies across the world in order to give them more time to upgrade, including state agencies in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
What's more, the company has also lowered price for Windows XP support significantly, in an effort to provide more organizations with the opportunity to purchase extended patches and thus remain protected until the migration to a newer OS version is completed.
“We’ve been working with customers and partners on the migration from Windows XP since we announced in September 2007 that support for Windows XP would end on April 8. 2014. As part of this effort, we’ve made custom support more affordable so large enterprise organizations could have temporary support in place while they migrate to a more modern and secure operating system,” Microsoft said in an announcement a couple of months ago.