By Jason McNicholas
On 22nd October 2009 Microsoft released Windows 7, one of the most widely used and successful operating systems ever created, vastly improving on the flaws of its predecessor, Windows Vista. Even 10 years later, and multiple newer Windows Operating Systems, as of September 2019 it is estimated that around 30% of systems running a Windows OS are using Windows 7.
This is a very worrying number as time is running out and the final day of Windows 7 support is quickly approaching. On 14th January 2020 Microsoft will be discontinuing support for Windows 7 meaning that security updates and fixes will no longer be released, meaning a giant portion of PC users could be left open to attack from malicious actors.
Companies will not be able to achieve Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus without sufficient network segmentation or removing internet access from Windows 7 machines. We highly recommend that all Windows 7 machines are upgraded to a supported Operating System such as Windows 10.
14th January 2020 is also the day that Windows Server 2008 reaches its end of life, meaning that servers using this Operating System also need to be upgraded. Although an upgrade may seem daunting, in the current scenario of rising cyber attacks and malware, it’s in everybody’s interests to ensure that computers don’t have unsupported software installed.
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