With Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 coming to end of life on 14 January, meaning patching and technical support via Microsoft’s support center will no longer be available for these products. This means continuing to use either operating system after this date will put your system at risk of attack from new and unpatched vulnerabilities. Running your business on an outdated (and unsupported) system is a huge security risk.
Satnam Narang, Senior Research Engineer at Tenable said, “With Microsoft discontinuing support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 on January 14, it is imperative that consumers and businesses take steps to ensure their systems are not vulnerable. In December 2019, Microsoft released fixes for CVE-2019-1458, an elevation of privilege vulnerability that was exploited in the wild. It affects both Windows 7 and Windows 2008 systems. Users of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 who opt not to migrate to newer versions are at risk of being preyed upon by bad actors, leaving them vulnerable to attacks especially since these systems won’t be supported by Microsoft. We strongly encourage consumers and businesses to take stock of what Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 assets remain and make immediate plans for migration.”