Microsoft thinks you should get off XP, right now [RSA conf]

If you are among the 21% of people still using Windows XP, Microsoft would really like you to stop and upgrade to something newer as it is more secure. Besides, it’s time.

Released today at the RSA Conference in Amsterdam, Microsoft’s Security Intelligence Report volume 15, serves up analysis based on threat intelligence gathered more than one billion systems worldwide. The report provides in-depth perspectives on exploits, vulnerabilities and malware to help its customers manage risk.

In particular, the report explores the risks of running Windows XP. It reveals that systems running Windows XP, which will no longer be supported by the folks from Redmond after 8 April 2014, are far more likely to be compromised than their Windows 8 counterparts.

Even though Windows 8 and XP receive similar amounts of malware attacks, XP is apparently six times more likely to be infected.

Jeff Jones, Director, Microsoft Corporation, reckons this could be attributed to both hindsight and understanding systems as well the fact that Windows 8 is controlled by an app store making it not as fallible to browser-based attacks.

The report found the following to be the top three worldwide threats for those running Windows XP:

Sality. A malware family that can steal personal information and lower a PC’s security settings.

Ramnit. Malware that infects Windows executable files, Microsoft Office files and HTML files.

Vobfus. A family of worms that can download other malware onto a PC; they can be downloaded by other malware or spread via removable drives, such as USB flash drives.

In South Africa:

Win32/Vobfus. Worms that spread via networks and removable drive, and download arbitrary files.

INF/Autorun. Worms that spread through networks or removable drives of infected computers.

Win32/Enosch. Worms that steal documents and email them to remote attackers.

For Jones, if there is one thing that consumers or IT professionals should take away from the report, it’s that “it is time to get off XP.”

“We have given consumers about 12 years to upgrade and come April, XP will be no more. We won’t release any more patches. If people are still using XP they will be at risk,” he says. “Tech professions do have options if they still need to be on XP for some reason. They can move to Windows 8 — 8 Pro has hyperV built in, they can install it and run an XP VM.”

According to Tim Rains, director of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, the data that the report provides “will help illustrate the positive impact that security innovations in newer operating systems are having. Modern operating systems such as Windows 8 include advanced security technologies that are specifically designed to make it harder, more complex, more expensive, and therefore, less appealing for cyber criminals to exploit vulnerabilities.”