High Use of Outdated OS's Makes Ease of Malware
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 11/02/2016 02:48 PM
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Duo Security reports that a high number of users are still using outdated software.
According to their report, 65% of its clients' Windows users are still running Vista. Furthermore, tens of thousands of users are clinging to XP. XP is considered very vulnerable with 700 known vulnerabilities of which 200 are rated as high to critical. 88% of those users are still using IE 8.
Michael Hanley, director at Duo Labs says: "There are a lot of advanced features that exist in Windows 10 which is arguably the most secure and strong operating system Microsoft has produced. But the problem is getting users off the legacy versions."
As to those users still holding on to Windows 7: "Windows 7 does not set you up as securely as does Windows 10. Users tend to start from a secure configuration with 10; but not with 7 -- and the danger is that users have never configured 7 to be secure. My opinion is that a lot of people aren't doing the basics -- like automatic updates (or else they'd be on 10 or at least a more secure browser)."
The problem that he points out is that many users are keeping outdated versions because of apps that only work with those versions of the software. However, they "run IE8 as their standard browser rather than just for the legacy app."
As an example, he points to ransomware and the health care industry. Many health care companies are still running Windows XP which is where the criminals know that they can breach the system without much effort.
Source: Security Week
According to their report, 65% of its clients' Windows users are still running Vista. Furthermore, tens of thousands of users are clinging to XP. XP is considered very vulnerable with 700 known vulnerabilities of which 200 are rated as high to critical. 88% of those users are still using IE 8.Michael Hanley, director at Duo Labs says: "There are a lot of advanced features that exist in Windows 10 which is arguably the most secure and strong operating system Microsoft has produced. But the problem is getting users off the legacy versions."
As to those users still holding on to Windows 7: "Windows 7 does not set you up as securely as does Windows 10. Users tend to start from a secure configuration with 10; but not with 7 -- and the danger is that users have never configured 7 to be secure. My opinion is that a lot of people aren't doing the basics -- like automatic updates (or else they'd be on 10 or at least a more secure browser)."
The problem that he points out is that many users are keeping outdated versions because of apps that only work with those versions of the software. However, they "run IE8 as their standard browser rather than just for the legacy app."
As an example, he points to ransomware and the health care industry. Many health care companies are still running Windows XP which is where the criminals know that they can breach the system without much effort.
Source: Security Week
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