14 DAY TRIAL // The recent WannaCry and Petya ransomware attacks made hundreds of thousands of victims across the world, all of them running old versions of Windows, simply because Microsoft’s Windows 10 was the only one secure against these infections.
And because Windows 10 guaranteed users their data wouldn’t be encrypted, businesses across the world finally understood that it was the time to replace old OS versions with the latest one, especially because these ransomware attacks were mainly aimed at enterprises.
A research conducted by Spiceworks reveals that while Windows 7 remains the number one desktop operating system for businesses, Windows 10 has finally managed to overtake Windows XP, mostly as a result of the ransomware attacks happening lately.
Windows 7 still the leader
Windows 7 is the leader with no less than 68 percent of the installs in the enterprise, while Windows 10 is the runner-up with 13 percent. Windows XP comes third with 11 percent, followed by Windows 8 with 5 percent.
“In recent months, widespread ransomware attacks such as WannaCry and Petrwrap have put businesses under pressure to upgrade unsupported operating systems, such as Windows XP and Vista, and move to more secure systems like Windows 10… And while Windows XP is still running in some businesses, it’s evident that more companies are beginning to recognize the security risks and prioritize upgrades in order to better secure their networks,” Peter Tsai, senior technology analyst at Spiceworks, said.
As far as global Windows OS penetration rate is concerned, Windows 7 is again leading the charts with 84 percent, followed by Windows 10 with 60 percent and Windows XP with 42 percent.
Without a doubt, running Windows XP is a very risky decision given that support ended in April 2014, but on the other hand, it’s also worth mentioning that the biggest victim of WannaCry was actually Windows 7, despite still receiving security patches.
This underlines just how important it is for users and enterprises across the world to install the latest security updates as soon as possible, especially now when the number of threats is growing at a super-fast pace.