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There is a relatively old—though still fundamentally true—adage about Windows: Microsoft's biggest competition is Microsoft, as a specific subset of users (and businesses) only upgrade to the latest version of Windows kicking and screaming. According to SpiceWorks' Future of Network and Endpoint Security report, published Tuesday, 32% of organizations still have at least one Windows XP device connected to their network, despite extended support for XP ending in 2014. (Notably, the last variant of XP, Windows POSReady 2009, reached end of life in April 2019.)
With the looming end of free support for Windows 7, this reticence of users and enterprises to upgrade to newer versions of Windows is likely to create significant security issues. Presently, 79% of organizations still have at least one Windows 7 system on their network, according to SpiceWorks, which also found that two thirds of businesses plan to migrate all of their machines off Windows 7 prior to the end of support on January 14, 2020, while a quarter will only migrate after that deadline.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @10:16PM (10 children)
while an old one gets both progressively less vulnerable as old holes get patched, and less promising target as more clueless users upgrade to a new shinier sieve.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RS3 on Tuesday July 30 2019, @10:34PM (7 children)
This is exactly what I've been saying for many years. I'd much rather have an "old" OS that is mature and more debugged. Look at how many GB you have to download and patch on a new Win 10 install. Yow! I don't understand the mentality of so many outspoken individuals slamming "old, ancient, insecure" OSes, in favor of "modern" OSes and browsers. Most of the old vulnerabilities have been patched, assuming the machines are updated as much as possible. New exploits attack new bugs in new "modern" code.
This all started when someone decided the customer is to be the beta test site, and customers accepted it.
And for the record, I support some XP machines, including some that are online (behind a firewall) and even have (patched) Windows Remote Desktop open and have never been hacked. Frankly, the machines are not mission critical- just mostly "stuff", not mine, and I don't care.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 31 2019, @01:24AM (5 children)
Never been
hacked/cracked that you KNOW of.Maybe YOUR machines are running Zuckerberg's brain. SHUT THEM DOWN!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday July 31 2019, @01:40AM (4 children)
Hey Gaaark, they are NOT MY machines, okay? You want it different, pay me- fork over some $. Why do you care, anyway?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 31 2019, @10:30AM (3 children)
Sorry...guess my comedy is off.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday July 31 2019, @01:47PM (2 children)
I thought it might be humor. No, it's me, and I shouldn't react to things, nor write online, right now. I'm sitting in hospital with my dad who's on day 15. He's finally improving medically, but now he's so deconditioned that he'll spend weeks in skilled nursing / PT. The situation is a bit wearing. I'm a bit weary of, well, many things, including OSes. I'd just like something that works. I'm weary of the update cycles. Win10 forced updating. Just. So. Tiring. And I don't know who to blame- MS? Sheeple? Govt? My head spins. I think too much crap is baked into Windows. Too difficult to separate out. I'd prefer a simple microkernel and configurable modules for all of the "stuff". Every Windows install I have to get in and turn off ton's of unnecessary and potentially dangerous services. Just when I get an OS stable, the general talk is that the OS is old and dangerous to world peace. So I'm the one who is sorry!!
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 31 2019, @11:15PM (1 child)
No problem.
Sorry about your dad: like with my son, you've got a constant stress right now.
Try to stay sane in the insanity.
I know a guy who only looks after Apple and Unix computers: he basically told his clients they either had to drop Windows or find someone else to look after it for them because of having to deal with the shit you're talking about.
Keep calm and Dad on. Hope things improve for you and him.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday August 01 2019, @03:13AM
It's frustrating on many levels. One is: I wish I had tried for med school. I love asking the doctors stimulating questions, like "would plasmapheresis help my dad's problem?" Didn't really get a detailed answer, but I love the way they respond. He's been in for 2+ weeks and has a lung infection and they're not sure exactly what it is, or how many there are (bacterial, viral, fungal), and there's some indication of autoimmune, and he's had a couple of immunotherapy treatments. So they're doing everything they can. He's slowly getting better- he's very strong, mostly stubborn. Glad I didn't inherit that. Ahem.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @03:51AM
Hardening systems also goes a long way toward making existing holes impossible or at least very difficult to exploit remotely. All the hand waving FUD about old and insecure operates on the notion that everybody connects their old and insecure systems directly to the internet without anything in between and without any baseline hardening such as disabling everything that isn't actively needed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @10:35PM (1 child)
Except for state agents that routinely weaponize any existing hole.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @11:47PM
Isn't it The Silliest Idea of Millenium.