Ever since support ended for Windows XP I’ve developed something of an involuntary habit of spotting XP systems in the wild while going about everyday life. Hospitals and medical facilities (optometrists and so on) always seem to have a high hit rate. Sometimes I say something, and sometimes I don’t. When I say something it’s usually in a lighthearted manner, and it’s almost always met with a “So?” attitude.
What’s the worst that could happen, right?
Well, things like this are what can happen: Royal Melbourne Hospital attacked by damaging computer virus.
The more that time progresses the more attacks of this nature are going to be available to attackers, with little or no defense available due to XP being out of support. This is just one example (but it’s a good one), there’s been more in the past, and there’s going to be many more to come, and as someone who’s been accused of being a bit of a doom merchant about things like this, it’s handy to have a few citable examples handy.
If you want to know more, then check out episode #395 of Risky Business which has more coverage on the story, as well as being the best security related podcast out there (unless you happen to enjoy someone named Steve reading blog posts verbatim at you slowly over a period of 2-3 hours, in which case there’s another podcast you’d probably like more).
If you’re currently running Windows XP, then please, upgrade.
Posted on Sunday, January 24, 2016 1:59 PM |