Last week the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent a Private Industry Notification warning about the dangers of continuing to use Windows 7. Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system reached its official end-of-life earlier this year, meaning it would no longer provide security patches and updates to the product, leaving it vulnerable to exploitation.
On Line Support President, Eric Olmsted, who also serves on the Board of the FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Association and is a member of InfraGard, notes that cyber criminals are targeting the computers on the outdated OS, “Windows 7 has become highly vulnerable to exploitation due to lack of security updates and as new vulnerabilities are discovered.“
“We’ve been converting our Windows 7 customers to Windows 10 for over a year now, but there still may be customers with business or personal computers that have not fully converted”, said Olmsted. “Now is the time to get those updates done”, he urged.
Microsoft did issue an Extended Security Update (ESU) for companies needing more time to update from Windows 7 to Windows 10. The ESU program allows users to continue to receive security updates to Windows 7 for up to an additional 3 years. The program needs renewed each year and will no longer be active in January 2022.
Recommended Actions:
If you are still using Windows 7 without the ESU program, update to Windows 10 now.
If you are using Windows 7 under the ESU program, you’ve bought yourself a little time to plan out your migration to Windows 10. Start making plans and allocating resources to upgrade to Windows 10 as soon as possible.
If you have migrated to Windows 10 but are still running Windows 7 on some older devices because the device was not compatible with Windows 10, stop using those devices. Either retire devices using Windows 7 or upgrade your hardware to those with Windows 10 compatibility.
Perform a Security Audit of your systems to ensure your organization is using best practice tools to protect your data. To schedule a Security Audit, contact your On Line Support account manager.
As your technology partner, security is always top of mind for us. Wherever you are in your Windows 10 migration process, On Line Support is here with the tools and expertise to get the job done.
