Windows XP used on ATM machines, banks and government firms will be highly vulnerable
With just three weeks left for Microsoft to support loopholes and vulnerabilities in Windows XP, thousands of machines world-wide using the older OS will be left in the lurk.
A report by Washington Post stated that, for six years, federal officers had known that Microsoft will withdraw support and despite the rush to upgrade, there will still be thousands of computers still open to hackers.
In India too, there are PCs in government departments and banks, which still use Windows XP for their daily work. Older ATMs worldwide are also reported to be using Windows XP as their base platform, which can be easy victims of being compromised.
Security experts have also warned that hackers are waiting for the day that Windows XP will no longer be serviced, and Microsoft would have a stock of vulnerability fixes piling up.
Hackers can break their way into vulnerable machines and make their way into other updates machines via the internal network which compromises on the security anyways.
Smaller companies and government offices, which do not have enough funding for upgrading their infrastructure, will suffer the most. Microsoft is forcing users to upgrade to Windows 8.1, since Windows 7 is also on the track to be pronounced ‘end-of-life’ soon.
Banks and ATM machines running on Windows XP are prone to vulnerabilities and put a high risk to themselves as well as people's money.
He risks of Windows XP’s vulnerabilities, and loopholes were highlighted in 2009 when Chinese hackers managed to get past the Google servers via the browser. The federal government also has been a regular attack target with breaches at many agencies reported.
“Running Windows XP is like living in a bad neighborhood. There are other things you can do to protect yourself. I can get locks for my house and reduce my likelihood of getting robbed. I can go out only in the daytime,” said Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner Research, a consulting firm.
