Support for Windows XP ended in April 2014

May 8, 2015 07:41 GMT  ·  By

Windows XP support ended in April 2014, so computers that are still running this particular OS version no longer receive updates and security patches, which means that they can be easily hacked if an unpatched vulnerability is found in the operating system code.

And it turns out that nearly 50 percent of the companies in the United Kingdom and the United States do not care so much about their computers’ security, as a study recently conducted by Bit9 reveals that the majority of them are yet to upgrade to a newer Windows version or purchase custom support from Microsoft.

The study involved IT decision makers at 500 medium and large enterprises in the UK and the US with more than 500 employees, and the results pretty much speak for themselves: 34 percent of them are running both Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (whose support will end in July), whereas 10 percent are using only Windows XP.

Greater security risks

Needless to say, running unpatched software on a company computer is very risky because exploits could be used to take advantage of known vulnerabilities that were not fixed by Microsoft after April 2014.

“Companies that have been running Windows XP without compensating controls - such as application control combined with continuous monitoring solutions - have been exposed to a host of possible exploits that may have allowed hackers to take advantage of the vulnerabilities associated with the unsupported machines,” said Chris Strand, PCIP, senior director of compliance and governance for Bit9 + Carbon Black.

“These vulnerabilities could lead to the compromise of companies' critical infrastructure and loss of essential information - including customers' personal data.”

On the consumer side, more than 13 percent of users worldwide are still running Windows XP on their computers, despite the aforementioned security risks. Obviously, moving off Windows XP is a more difficult decision than initially thought because it also involves hardware upgrades to cope with the requirements of modern operating systems.

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