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posted by Fnord666 on Monday January 20 2020, @09:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the OS-inertia dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Hyperturtle on Monday January 20 2020, @05:21PM

    by Hyperturtle (2824) on Monday January 20 2020, @05:21PM (#945890)

    I have heard from trustworthy resources that it's not in any version prior to the non-server versions of Windows 10's infrastructure/topology (meaning both consumer and professional/enterprise). I can't really prove it without trying to exploit it, though, but I believe it to be true.

    Something about it being by design and they sat on that disclosure until they were certain anyone putting off upgrading that was going to upgrade had already started the process to do so since it's hard to roll back from Windows 10 now. Other 'states' found out about it and were using it, but in order to get various people on board, they had to wait until all the people that could be scared about a lack of security updates would be influenced enough.

    Were I among that type, I'd wonder why windows 10 is affected and the other versions aren't and why am I upgrading again, to patch a 'bug' that didn't exist before?

    (I mean good God, read up on it... they removed parts of the certificate checks as if it was on purpose and when the NSA notices and an announcement comes out on the same day support for 7 is pulled... who doesn't think this isn't a stunt designed and pulled by design? Besides the IT industry reporting on this stuff and not wanting to get cut off from inside advertising tie-ins, I mean.)

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