14 DAY TRIAL // Windows XP no longer receives updates and security fixes since April 8, 2014, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone dumped it and moved to a newer operating system.
But what’s worse is that even authorities around the world keep using Windows XP, and the most recent example comes from London, where the Met police is still running this 15-year-old operating system on approximately 27,000 PCs.
The Inquirer reports that the Metropolitan Police has an on-going contract with Microsoft to receive custom patches for these PCs, even though more than 2 years have passed since Windows XP reached end-of-support. Details on how much the Met Police is paying for custom patches are not available.
PCs now being upgraded to... Windows 8.1
London Assembly member Andrew Boff says that some more PCs are expected to be upgraded to… wait for it… Windows 8.1 this year in September, but many will continue to run Windows XP. Until now, approximately 8,000 PCs have already been upgraded, Boff explains, with another 6,000 to make the switch this year.
“Operating systems age more like milk than wine, and Windows XP is well past its sell-by date. The Met should have stopped using Windows XP in 2014 when extended support ended, and to hear that 27,000 computers still use it is worrying,” Boff is quoted as saying.
“My major concern is the security of Londoners' information on this dangerously out-of-date system, but I would also like to know how much money the Met has wasted on bespoke security updates. I also question the choice to upgrade to Windows 8.1; this is neither the newest nor the most used version of Windows. Staff are likely to be more familiar with Windows 10, but most importantly it will be supported further into the future.”
The Met’s choice not to upgrade to Windows 10, especially since the switch is performed this year, is quite odd, but no matter the operating system, the transition needs to be completed as soon as possible.
No specifics have been provided as to what info these Windows XP computers are storing, but they obviously handle data of many Londoners, so they expose millions of people to additional risks by simply running outdated software.