End of Windows XP Support to Cause Wave of Cyber Attacks

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Microsoft will stop supporting the Windows XP operating system in mid 2014. Java 6 applications will also stop receiving updates. This situation, according to Trend Micro experts, will lead to an unprecedented wave of cyber attacks.

Oracle stopped releasing Java 6 updates in February 2013. Later, in August, the resulting vulnerabilities led to many cyber attacks, which only grew more and more sophisticated. According to surveys 50% of users still use Java 6.

According to Trend Micro experts the situation in April 12, 2014, will be much worse – a day after the last Windows XP operating system update. A growing number of vulnerabilities will be discovered by hostile elements, and will be used to facilitate cyber attacks.

IHLS – Israel Homeland Security

According to some unofficial assessments about 20% of users, some 500 million, are still using XP. Many of them are unwilling to upgrade to Windows 8, significantly complicating matters. It appears the security threat doesn’t strike most of them as something to be worried about.

The discontinued support for both platforms will lead, according to Trend Micro analysts, to the formation of vulnerabilities in the networks of a large number of users all over the world, tempting hackers and causing an unprecedented wave of cyber attacks.