Microsoft's Ticking Time Bomb Is Windows XP

[wraggster]

Shona Ghosh writes at PC Pro that the final deadline for Windows XP support in April 2014 will act as the starting pistol for developing new exploits as hackers reverse-engineer patches issued for Windows 7 or Windows 8 to scout for XP vulnerabilities (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/386077/windows-xp-microsoft-s-ticking-time-bomb). "The very first month that Microsoft releases security updates for supported versions of Windows, attackers will reverse-engineer those updates, find the vulnerabilities and test Windows XP to see if it shares [them]," says Tim Rains, the director of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing group. Microsoft says that XP shared 30 security holes with Windows 7 and Windows 8 between July 2012 and July 2013. Gregg Keizer says that if a major chunk of the world's PCs remains tied to XP, as seems certain, Microsoft will face an unenviable choice: Stick to plan and put millions of customers at risk from malware infection (http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=4B10DB55-CB48-F389-3080B30EADE11E3C), or backtrack from long-standing policies and proclamations.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/12/22/0027203/microsofts-ticking-time-bomb-is-windows-xp