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Hundreds of Millions of PCs Remain Vulnerable as Windows 7 Reaches End of Life:
Windows 7 has reached end of life on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, but hundreds of millions of PCs worldwide still run the operating system, which likely makes them a more tempting target for malicious cyber actors.
Microsoft will no longer provide free security updates, patches or technical support for Windows 7, which makes devices running this version of the operating system more vulnerable to attacks and more likely to be targeted.
The latest data from Statcounter and NetMarketShare shows that roughly 30% of the over 1 billion PCs estimated to exist worldwide still use Windows 7. According to Statcounter, the percentage is just under 18% in the United States.
Kaspersky reported in late August that, based on its data, nearly half of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and enterprises had still used Windows 7. More recent data from Kollective suggests that the situation has not improved too much, with 53% of businesses in the US and UK still using Windows 7 devices.
While these statistics may not be highly accurate, at least a few hundred million PCs around the world likely still run Windows 7. It's worth noting that when Windows XP reached end of life in April 2014, the operating system also had a market share estimated at roughly 30%.
[...] Chris Morales, head of security analytics at Vectra, a California-based provider of technology that leverages AI to detect and hunt for cyber attackers, does not believe the actual impact will be catastrophic.
"For home users that want to cling on for whatever reasons, many of the potential problems could be mitigated using other tools and methods, like VPN, encryption, security software, and a good secure home router," Morales said.
"For many enterprises, they will simply sign up for Windows 7 Extended Security Updates for the next three years of coverage. This covers anything deemed critical or important," Morales added. "Which means not much will change in the attack landscape for enterprises with the Windows 7 Extended Security Updates. Most major apps like Google Chrome browser will also continue to be supported with updates for all users."
Many will lose support for programs that ran on WIndows 7, too.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by dltaylor on Monday January 20 2020, @12:45PM (1 child)
For example: even though a patch set does not require a reboot, it is only a couple of days, at most, before applications start behaving strangely (menu items missing, peripherals stop working, ...). If you are working on a project over a period of several days, you are going to be required to hope you can save your work and safely reboot and resume. IME, that is not always true.
Another: I have a laptop with an original Windows 7 and a disk to which I cloned the 7 and allowed the upgrade to 10. I have a camera (very recently, after the update) that works fine with 7, but, even though 10 tells me that the hardware is working perfectly and that the latest drivers are installed, it refuses to even allow the microphone test, which is greyed out. I cannot do video conferencing with 10 ON THE SAME HARDWARE.
Throw in M$s latest nonsense which is to make it difficult to have local accounts for home users, and you have severe limits on the portability of laptops running Windows 10. If you are trying to work on the road and cannot get authentication of the microsoft account, you are hosed.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Monday January 20 2020, @01:17PM
Windows 10 is not userland, that's the whole point.
Remember when Bill Gates said something like, "If they're going to steal an OS, we want them to steal from us!" I'm thinking that MS was already plotting toward this end.
MS has a helluva lead on Amazon, Apple, and all the rest. They already have their spyware installed on 90% of the computers in the world. Amazon is still trying to sell that same 90% on Amazon Ring, and the rest of it's spyware. The more cynical customer is going to ask, "Why should I pay Amazon to spy on me, when Microsoft is doing such a fine job of it?"
I predict more and more competitors giving away free spy devices to catch up with Windows10. "Get a free Nest device with every $120 purchase! Certain conditions and limitations apply."