New
#1
I too loved XP. But time and technology has passed us by. Such is life. Well said Shawn.
Upgrade already! If you're still using XP, you're a menace to Society
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New #2
Kudo's to MS... there are too many apps that have not been upgraded and only run on XP..(assuming that's the reason for even running XP) alternatively some (large companies) are too cheap or stupid to upgrade...?
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New #3
Unwarranted criticism of NHS - according to NHS:
UPDATED Statement on reported NHS cyber-attack (13 May) - NHS Digital
NHS Denies Widespread Windows XP Use - GovInfoSecurityNHS said:
points to Windows 7 as the main culprit:
Apparent Culprit: Unpatched Windows 7
Based on new information, however, part of the problem appears to be that many NHS trusts haven't installed the latest Windows 7 patches.
"I think what is also becoming clear is that the NHS impact was a result of lack of patching Windows 7 rather than outdated XP," Alan Woodward, a professor computer security at the University of Surrey, and a cybersecurity adviser to the EU's law enforcement intelligence agency, Europol, tells Information Security Media Group.
"If this is the case then it shows that there is a lack of resources across the NHS IT estate," he adds.
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New #4
Not convinced they have an understanding... that sounds like the typical political damage control BS when the sh!t hit the fan..."If this is the case, then it shows that there is a lack of resources across the NHS IT estate"
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New #5
If the imaging facilities - MRI, CTS etc, are approaching (and are probably well beyond) their 10 year budgeted life span (being very expensive Kit in the first place), with hard-wired (state-of-the-art at the time) XP analysis systems built in - their response to such an attack is to take the systems offline so that they are not damaged.
I don't think that shows lack of understanding, but a lack of resources. These are not £200 PCs, but £500k+room-filling laboratory analytical equipment.
In the case of Windows 7 systems being unpatched, it is inexcusable.
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New #6
Uhmm well, I see where you are coming from (from a pacticality point of view) , but the lack of understanding comes in prior to the attack...XP is known to have holes..it was inevitable.. IMHO
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New #7
Too many people assume companies can just spend millions at a drop of a hat replacing equipment that runs XP.
With that said these machines should be heavily locked down behind firewalls and such to isolate it as much as possible.
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New #9
In that case, why are such machines allowed to be connected to the Internet? Yes, I know that their manufacturers might prefer to have remote diagnostic or software upgrade capabilities, but the risk to a hospital's entire network should overrule this. (If it doesn't, consider the risk to the hospital's IT director's career!)
Upgrade already! If you're still using XP, you're a menace to Society
Posted: 15 May 2017
Response to my last piece -- "Why Windows must die for the third time" -- was overwhelming. Hundreds of thousands of people read that article, and we had some very spirited talkbacks indeed.
A bunch of you came right out and said it: You don't want to upgrade from XP. You're angry that Microsoft made you upgrade from XP to 7, and 7 to 10. You're angry you need to update software continuously.
A handful of you even suggested inflicting bodily harm on the hard-working programmers that write the software you don't want to upgrade to.
Look, I have brought up many reasons why upgrades are necessary. As my friend from Jersey, Johnny T. likes to say, you gotta do it.
It doesn't matter how many times I techsplain this, because some folks will always refuse to listen. Maybe it's because I write in long form and anything longer than 300 words is considered to be TL;DR these days. That's sad, and a topic for a different day.
Let me say this as simply as possible: If you are still using XP, you are the end-user equivalent of an anti-vaxxer. You are a menace to society and everyone around you. You are a walking malware vector. You should be shipped out to a remote island with no internet access to fend for yourselves so you can't infect anyone else.
And if you are an IT professional who serves in a decision-making capacity with an organization that continues to use XP or Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2005, you should be fired. You should never be allowed to work in the computer industry again.
You should not be allowed to touch a computer again either because you too are a menace. You are perpetuating the computer software equivalent of polio and smallpox.
Sounds harsh? You betcha. But over the weekend, the internet got hit with a massive cryptoware malware attack that compromised untold numbers of Windows XP systems. including the UK's National Health Service, who were warned years ago that they were open to exactly the kind of life-jeopardizing malware attack they are now dealing with.
The entire industry was warned. Years earlier, XP was issued its final end-of-life notice by Microsoft in 2014. ZDNet covered this extensively during that period with special features and editorial coverage. We had sermons on the mountaintop even.
The malware attack this weekend was so severe and so widespread -- with systems in 74 countries affected -- that Microsoft took the unusual step of issuing an emergency patch for Windows XP...
Read more: Upgrade already! If you're still using Windows XP, you're a menace to society | ZDNet
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