14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 7 will be retired in just a few months, as Microsoft will ship the very last updates for this operating system on January 14, 2020, and the closer we get to this retirement date, the more obvious security risks of staying with an old platform become.
A report published by security company Webroot reveals that the number of infections aimed at Windows 7 increased by no less than 71 percent when compared with 2018.
“In general, computers using the Windows 7 operating system are twice as likely to become infected as those running Windows 10, with approximately .12 infections per Windows 7 device so far in 2019, and 0.05 infections per Windows 10 device,” the report reveals.
Windows 10 home users, the primary target
Just like before, home users are primarily targeted, and Webroot says home users are more prone to end up with their devices compromised by malware, as 64% of the infections are aimed at these computers.
“There are a variety of contributors to this discrepancy, not least of which is that most corporate devices are protected by business firewalls and mandatory security, while home users may be more lax in protecting their devices. Second, the average person is more likely to exercise caution while browsing the web on a work device that their employer owns,” the security vendor explains.
When it comes to compromising a Windows 7 device, most malware infections hide their files in places where it’s harder to find them. For example, 41 percent of the malware samples hide in the temp folder, while 24 percent move their files to appdata. Around 11 percent turned the cache system folder into their new home.
Windows 7 is still running on some 30 percent of the world’s computers, and it’ll certainly be hard for Microsoft to convince everyone to upgrade, especially as switching to Windows 10 would mean embracing the company’s new modern operating system.