Hackers Already Making Lists of Windows XP Vulnerabilities, Says Expert

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Hackers-Already-Making-Lists-of-Windows-XP-Vulnerabilities-Says-Expert-431750.shtml

Windows XP's end of support remains a hot topic these days, not only
because Microsoft is doing its best to move users to a newer platform, but
also because companies across the world are trying to capitalize on this
moment and gain in popularity by providing services to aid customers still
on this platform.

Help AG, an information security services and solutions provider in the
Middle East, warned that without security patches and updates, Windows XP
will become very easy to hack, especially because the hacker community is
very likely to pay special attention to this OS version.

What's more, a security expert working for the company says that hackers
are already making lists of security vulnerabilities in Windows XP, which
is probably one of the main reason why users need to upgrade as soon as
possible.

"With no fixes available, this list will only grow making usage of the OS a
horribly poor decision from a security perspective," Nicolai Solling,
director of Technology Services at Help AG, was quoted as saying by CIOL.

"XP users need to understand that after the end of support, there will be
no official way to fix any OS vulnerabilities," he continued.

At the same time, Solling warned that most anti-virus providers would stop
releasing virus definition updates for the products, even though we all
know that the leading companies in this sector have pledged to continue
supporting Windows XP after the April 8 retirement date.

"Not only this, antivirus (AV) vendors too will reduce or even completely
abandon their efforts to update their solutions for this operating system
leading to a scenario wherein new developments in the field of AV
technology will completely bypass Windows XP," he said.

Microsoft's mission to kill Windows XP however seems rather impossible, as
the operating system launched more than 12 years ago is still powering 29
percent of the desktop computers worldwide, with many users already
expressing their intention to stick to this OS version despite the
approaching retirement.

Of course, one of the reasons is that a move to Windows 8.1 would also
involve hardware upgrades, which makes the entire process a bit more
expensive, especially for companies that need to migrate hundreds of
thousand systems to the new OS build.

Windows XP support will come to an end in less than 30 days, so Microsoft
will no longer provide security patches and updates to block attacks trying
to exploit found vulnerabilities.

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