Although Microsoft has not provided technical support for Windows XP since 2014, the operating system is still used by many owners of extremely old PCs, which can not run anything else, being the source of about 1.26% of traffic generated on the Internet.
Even if it goes irrelevant, Windows XP still does not capitulate, the PCs that use it being among the most vulnerable to malware attacks and an important resource for botnet networks, launching SPAM messages, etc.
Windows XP becomes even riskier to use
Certainly publishing source code for a current OS like Windows 10 would be a real disaster for Microsoft, with hackers everywhere analyzing the detailed code to expose any vulnerabilities that can be exploited. But starting from the tiny presence that Windows XP still has in the online environment, the damage caused can not be very large, with one exception.
Given that for many years it was ubiquitous on PCs, Windows XP has reached the “rudder” of devices with a fairly serious purpose, such as banking ATMs, medical devices and even industrial systems. Planned with a very long duration of operation, or simply neglected, some of these systems are still in operation, the detailed knowledge of the vulnerabilities opening new remedies.
For its part, Microsoft has opened access to source code for some government agencies and universities since 2001, a gap that is not new.
Given that Microsoft has not provided official support for Windows XP for a long time, the lack of an official position on the situation is not surprising.
Juana loves to cover the tech and gaming industry, she always stays on the first row of CES conference and reports live from there.