Windows XP retirement nears

December 15, 2013

Microsoft introduced Windows XP in 2001, and it became an instant success. It combined the well-received consumer user interface from Windows 98 with the stability of Windows NT, was out-of-the-box Internet capable with an excellent browser—Internet Explorer (IE)—and quickly took over the market. In terms of security, XP was immediately the target of attacks. In 2004, Microsoft hit a milestone in this area, when it unveiled Windows XP SP2, which featured a built-in, always-on firewall that effectively ended the era of the large-scale Internet worms, such as Blaster, Sasser, and Slammer. As a result, Windows XP became a huge hit with over 600 million installations worldwide. But in April of next year, 2014, Microsoft will execute on its long published maintenance plan and stop commercial support for Windows XP. Starting in May, Windows XP will stop receiving security updates, even for highly critical security flaws such as September’s and November’s IE zero-day that targeted Windows 7 and, you guessed it, Windows XP. By mid-2014, new and (by then) unfixable security flaws for XP will be well-known and freely traded in the cybercriminal underground. To illustrate this certainty, let’s take a look at this year’s IE security bulletins. There have been fourteen updates so far, one each month through November, plus additional updates in February, May and November to cover zero-days, addressing a total of 117 vulnerabilities. Windows XP was affected by 75 of the vulnerabilities, including 68 rated critical, which accounts for 64 percent of total vulnerabilities and 90 percent of critical vulnerabilities this year alone. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2080200/windows-xp-retirement-nears.html#tk.rss_all