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By Jack M. Germain
May 4, 2021 4:00 AM PT
Kaspersky on April 26 released survey results revealing that almost one quarter (22 percent) of PCs still run the end-of-life OS Microsoft Windows 7, which stopped receiving mainstream support in January 2020.
When operating systems reach end of life, vulnerabilities will remain on the system without patch updates to resolve issues, providing cyberattackers with potential ways to gain access. Therefore, it is critical to update a system's OS to protect networks from this avoidable issue, according to Kaspersky.
Using an end-of-life operating system that no longer receives security updates is akin to driving a car with a brake light on. The likelihood of disaster is great and yet it is difficult to convey this to users of such systems without it appearing to be a ploy to get them to spend more money, suggested Oliver Tavakoli, CTO at Vectra AI.