Did you know? There have been 189 vulnerabilities rated critical or highly critical for Windows 7 since January of 2020, when the last patches for Windows 7 were available without an ESU license.
This shouldn’t be a wake-up call, but it bears repeating: keeping legacy operating systems which are no longer receiving patches presents a very significant risk to any business that continues to use them. Increased security threats, compromises, and the inability to recover critical data are inevitable when keeping outdated operating systems to drive your business.
The 189 vulnerabilities cited above are just the known vulnerabilities. Keeping these systems in place means an increasing number of accommodations must be made in a customer’s environment to support these operating systems, resulting in less secure configurations and leaving you susceptible to potential threats. It will become increasingly difficult to find antivirus and endpoint detection and response vendors whose products will be supported on these legacy systems.
For managed service providers, keeping outdated operating systems in place presents a reputational risk when bringing on new and working with existing customers. Outdated technology doesn’t impact just your business; it impacts the business of the customers you serve, leading to reduced trust in your ability to care for your customers’ needs.
As time goes on, the number of vulnerabilities associated with Windows 7 – and other outdated operating systems – will only grow. IT providers should consider, would I go out today and buy one of these operating systems to operate my business on? If the answer is no, then why is it still being used? There’s no better time than now to implement a strategy to rapidly remove these devices from a business. Update these operating systems now to protect your reputation and that of your customers.