Microsoft Patch Tuesday bids adieu to Windows XP
This month's "Patch Tuesday" includes the final round of security fixes Microsoft will issue for Windows XP, potentially leaving millions that continue to use the OS open to attack.
XP will become an easy target for attackers now that Microsoft has stopped supporting it, said Wolfgang Kandek, CTO for IT security firm Qualys.A The OS will no longer receive fixes for holes that Microsoft and others might find in the OS. Moreover, attackers will be able to reverse engineer patches issued for newer versions of Windows, giving them clues to the remaining unfixed vulnerabilities in XP, Kandek said.
Microsoft has acknowledged the problem and has been pushing hard to get users onto newer versions of Windows. "If you continue to use Windows XP now that support has ended, your computer will still work but it might become more vulnerable to security risks and viruses," it said in an advisory.
