Microsoft is about to leave one-third of all PCs vulnerable to hacking

Vast sums of computers running everything from ATMs towards the power grid will be vulnerable to hacking the following month when Microsoft stops supporting its old Or windows 7 operating system. Hackers have been possessing flaws in Windows XP and waiting to exploit them until following the software giant stops issuing security improvements on April 8, experts say.

Microsoft announced six years ago it won't provide security patches or technical support for that out-of-date software. Yet about one-third of computers all over the world or about 500 million PCs still run Or windows 7. On Microsoft’s website, a clock ticks right down to next month’s Windows deadline and an email warns customers that after April 8, not really antivirus software will protect PCs that run the obsolete operating-system.

Without critical Windows XP security improvements, your PC may become vulnerable in order to harmful virus and other malicious software which could steal or damage your business information and information, the site states. In a statement, a Microsoft spokesman stated consumers should upgrade to Windows 7 or even Windows 8.1, which costs $120 to set up. The company will continue to update anti-malware products for or windows 7 users through July 14, 2015. A wide selection of institutions will face increased security risks the following month because they still run the aged software.

For example, hundreds of a large number of federal government computers still operate Or windows 7, including many PCs that contain categorized military and diplomatic information, according towards the Washington Post. About half of the estimated 4,000 electric utilities in the United States also still use computers with the outdated Windows software, according to Meat C. Miller, founder of the non-profit Power Sector Security Consortium. Miller said many utilities still operate Windows XP because it costs huge amount of money and takes years to upgrade all their computers to newer software.

To purchase the upgrade, utilities must ask state commissions to improve rates on consumers, and some of these have been denied, he said. Miller said his biggest concern is really a hacker attacking the unpatched Windows software to be able to cause a blackout on a warm summer day. And we don’t understand how long the blackout would last because there’s no fix in the vendor, Miller said. Nadya Bartol, a cyber security expert in the Utilities Telecom Council, said most from the country’s utilities have computer networks along with multiple layers of security. She said the hacking risk depends upon where those PCs are located inside the network.

We should be concerned and we ought to replace these operating systems, Bartol informed HuffPost. But we shouldn’t be alarmist. Additionally, only 38 % of the nation’s some 425,000 cash machines may have upgraded from Windows XP, according to David Tente, the executive director from the ATM Industry Association. Some banks have negotiated extensions with Microsoft or paid the organization for custom support after the contract. Still, many IT technicians are visiting ATMs round the country to replace the outdated Windows software manually, a process that takes about an hour or so each time, Tente told HuffPost.

There have already been cases where hackers have fooled the ATM into thinking its dispensing buck bills when it’s really dispensing 20 dollar bills, Tente said. He said such risks are unlikely to improve immediately after April 8. But with time, there’s a greater risk of flaws that may be taken advantage of because you don’t have those patches arriving, he said. Microsoft introduced Or windows 7 in 2001. Back then, reviewers praised the software for being simple to use and not crashing as often because previous Windows versions.

The operating system remained on an incredible number of computers for years because its alternative, Windows Vista, was plagued with several problems. Now, Microsoft is trying to adjust to a landscape that is less centered on desktops and more focused on cellular devices. Windows 8.1, which was launched last fall, includes many touch screen features and was created for both tablets and desktops. But even while Microsoft pushes customers to upgrade from Or windows 7, the company has struggled to continue in a post-PC world. In the months following the Windows 8 was release.