The world of ATMs is not prepared for the announced death of Windows XP

Microsoft will definitively withdraw Windows XP from the market on April 8th after a couple of extensions. The operating system that was known in the development phase as Whistler and that saw the light of day in 2001 will finally have its well-deserved rest.

However, there is still a lot of infrastructure working on top of this OS version. from Microsoft. Example case, ATMs to withdraw money (ATMs). Apparently 95% of ATMs in the world use Windows XP.

This past week a patch was released that solved a serious security problem for Windows XP and after April 8, XP would stop receiving updates or security patches.

This has several readings but among them it stands out that Windows XP would be potentially unprotected against future attacks by hackers.

In fact, the estimates of the CEO of one of the companies that offer ATM software in the US -Aravinda Korala- are not at all encouraging since it is believed that Only 15% of ATMs will migrate to Windows 7 before that date in the US.

Also, it is not a trend that varies markedly in the rest of the world. Windows XP in ATMs will still last for at least a few months after the end of official Microsoft support.

In the words of Korala:

The risks of continuing to run Windows XP on ATMs after that date when Microsoft will retire XP are great so there are plans to migrate ATM software to another operating system, but it is unlikely to be done in time.

An example of this is JPMorgan, which has purchased extended support for XP to gain time in the transition process to a more secure platform, Windows 7, which will begin in July of this year.

Windows XP retirement will not only affect end consumers and businessesBut it will also affect common day-to-day elements such as ATMs that still worked on versions of Windows XP that came to light almost 13 years ago.

Via | Business Week