Blog

Some People Still Use 20 Year Old Windows XP

Nov 11, 2021 | Blog

Windows XP recently turned twenty. Two decades is an eternity in the world of computers. Yet despite its age the venerable OS still has a surprising number of loyal users.

The problem is that Windows XP stopped receiving security updates in 2014. That means those who are still clinging to it run a very real risk of having their systems compromised.

It’s actually worse than the dates above indicate because mainstream support for Windows XP ended in 2009. However a small number of users were able to get extended support which lasted for an additional five years.

Microsoft has in a handful of cases issued emergency security patches to deal with critical security threats. However the bottom line is that there are a whole host of serious security flaws in the OS at this point and further help is not coming.

So who are the Windows XP users and why haven’t they upgraded to a more modern OS yet?

Broadly speaking they fall into two categories. The first group resides in the public sector. Public sector agencies tend to be notoriously slow where upgrades are concerned. Given how long public sector employees have been using it there’s a significant re-training cost to consider that many public agencies simply don’t have the budget for.

The second major category are agencies that have legacy applications that are incompatible with more modern operating systems. In these cases upgrading the OS requires a total rewrite of those legacy applications which may be ruinously expensive. On top of that a total rewrite of business critical applications would result in massive hardware and retraining costs on top of the software development.

It’s a tricky proposition which has left a small but significant number of users in a vulnerable position. The sooner these remaining holdouts find a way out of their situations the safer and better off they will be.

FBI Program Tasked with Infrastructure Security Compromised

FBI Program Tasked with Infrastructure Security Compromised

The FBI program tasked with ensuring critical infrastructure security has been compromised by hackers, who now offer access to the program's data on the dark web. The breach was initially disclosed by Brian Krebs of Krebs on Security, who claims that the data was for...

Streamline Your Business with the Latest Smart Home Technology

Streamline Your Business with the Latest Smart Home Technology

Are you a business owner looking to get the most out of your Google smart home devices? If so, you're in luck! Google has enabled its Nest products and Android OS with the initial rollout of the Matter smart home standard. This means that businesses now have the...

Data Breach at Sequoia One Exposes Sensitive Customer Information

Data Breach at Sequoia One Exposes Sensitive Customer Information

What do you do when your most personal information has been compromised? This is likely the question that customers of Sequoia One asked themselves earlier this month as they were informed that the company had been hacked. Sequoia One specializes in the management of...

Cisco Reports Critical IP Phone Vulnerability

Cisco Reports Critical IP Phone Vulnerability

As a business owner, it's important to stay informed about potential vulnerabilities that could impact your organization. Recently, Cisco reported a critical vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-20968, affecting its IP Phone 7800 and 8800 Series. This new vulnerability...

Google Chrome Releases Two New Features

Google Chrome Releases Two New Features

Google Chrome is one of the more commonly used web browsers. Over the years, though, Chrome has gained a reputation for utilizing a large portion of a computer's memory. This can be a problem if you're running other resource-intensive tasks and don't want to slow...

Get a Free Consultation

 

Fill out the form below to receive a free consultation and learn how we can make your technology worry-free!

 

Contact Information

  • 39301 Badger Street, Suite 500
    Palm Desert, CA 9221
  • (760) 333-8523
  • info@icn.tech