Windows 7 is due reached End Of Life (EOL) today, January 24th 2020, but a large number of the world’s computers, most in corporate environments, are still running the nine-year-old system. This End of Life means no more bug-fixes, security patches or new functionality, making any user – personal or enterprise – significantly more susceptible to malware attacks.
Now, there is nothing stopping you from using Windows 7 even after its End of Life. But you should know that using an outdated operating system makes your computer vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Also, if your company has any regulatory requirements such as HIPAA, SOC, ISO, GDPR, NIST (just to name a few) you will be in violation and subject to fines or potentially losing a contract. If you’re unsure, be sure to check with a security professional.
The Takeaway
After today, you’ll effectively be using a dead operating system. While the PC will continue to work, you’ll be stuck with an operating system that no longer gets patched. If someone finds a nasty bug or security vulnerability in Windows 7 (which believe me they are working on it), they could easily take advantage of it, putting you and your company at risk.
If you need some guidance on what to do next or would like a second opinion about your work computers, feel free to reach out to myself or Howard, our account manager here at Cylanda for guidance – his email address is howard@cylanda.com and here’s a quick video introduction: https://youtu.be/ob9kAecU9ik
Stay safe out there.
-A
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