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Credit to Author: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols| Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2017 04:20:00 -0700<\/strong><\/p>\n The headline \u2014 \u201cHMS Queen Elizabeth is \u2018running outdated Windows XP\u2019, raising cyber attack fears<\/a>\u201d \u2014 was startling, but wrong. The United Kingdom\u2019s newest aircraft carrier wasn\u2019t running Windows XP. But some of the contractors that built the warship were<\/a>.<\/p>\n The U.S. Navy, meanwhile, has been purchasing Windows XP support, at least through this year<\/a>, so odds are our military still has XP systems running to this very day.<\/p>\n To which I can only say: \u201cJust how stupid are you?\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, I follow the adage \u201cIf it\u2019s not broke, don\u2019t fix it.\u201d But guess what: XP is broke.<\/p>\n Mainstream XP support ended in April 2014. True, Microsoft has started reissuing general Windows XP patches<\/a>\u00a0because of the latest run of ransomware, but do you really think the company is going to continue to cover your rump? I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n I liked Windows XP a lot back in the day<\/a>\u00a0myself, but come on, it\u2019s been over three years now, and, truth be told, it was never safe from day one. It\u2019s time to move on up to Windows 7, if not Windows 10.<\/p>\n Enough already. If you\u2019re still running XP, I presume it\u2019s because you have a program that only runs on XP and you\u2019ve been too lazy or cheap to rewrite or replace it. Here\u2019s the thing about that, though: At this point, being lazy is going to result in a lot more work than you ever bargained for, and being cheap is going to get very expensive. It\u2019s time to wake up. The alarm clock is ringing, and it\u2019s ringing for all.<\/p>\n Bite the bullet, and get rid of your old software. If you can\u2019t reprogram it yourself, get someone who can.<\/p>\n If your vendor doesn\u2019t have a new version, ask yourself what you\u2019re doing with software from a company that hasn\u2019t updated its product for over three years. It\u2019s not like we didn\u2019t know XP was coming to an end. Microsoft told us over and over again that XP would no longer be supported. By using out-of-date programs on top of an obsolete operating system, you\u2019re just asking for a disaster.<\/p>\n Disaster has already hit many businesses. The U.K.\u2019s National Health Service (NHS) hospitals were still running XP<\/a>\u00a0when the WannaCry ransomware came calling this spring. A lot of NHS facilities were knocked out. Coincidence? I don\u2019t think so!<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know how many other businesses have been knocked out by WannaCry, Locky, Petya and other ransomware programs. Companies don\u2019t like admitting they\u2019ve been hacked.<\/p>\n What we do know is that FedEx, Nissan, Hitachi and Renault were all hit by WannaCry. We know that ransomware took in a billion bucks<\/a> last year from its victims. That\u2019s only the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of businesses and institutions were successfully attacked.<\/p>\n In all fairness, it\u2019s not just Windows XP. The recent run of ransomware was largely caused by businesses that simply didn\u2019t bother to patch their existing \u201cup-to-date\u201d Windows systems<\/a>.<\/p>\n I get it. You don\u2019t want to patch your operating system only to find that your mission-critical program or device no longer works. But that argument loses its punch when Windows is being smashed by ransomware.<\/p>\n The newest attack programs only need one vulnerable PC to get in, and then they can wreak havoc all over your network.<\/p>\n You have no choice but to secure your network by patching the operating system as soon as patches come out. Attack programs using zero-day bugs have become as common as cockroaches.<\/p>\n So enough waiting around. Get rid of XP. Move up to Windows 7. Patch your Windows system as soon as possible. Heck, consider moving to Linux<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s Windows malware won\u2019t just mess up your day; it can destroy your business. Security is now job one for any companies relying on Windows.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/category\/security\/index.rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Credit to Author: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols| Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2017 04:20:00 -0700<\/strong><\/p>\n The headline \u2014 \u201cHMS Queen Elizabeth is \u2018running outdated Windows XP\u2019, raising cyber attack fears<\/a>\u201d \u2014 was startling, but wrong. The United Kingdom\u2019s newest aircraft carrier wasn\u2019t running Windows XP. But some of the contractors that built the warship were<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n