Most of the ATM machines all around the world will shortly experience a great problem on the April 8th in this year: The conclusion of backup for their operating system. According to a magazine BusinessWeek, 95 percent of present operating ATMs in the world, or almost all of the 420,000 presently functioning in the United States, executed on Windows XP – a system which Microsoft is formally concluding its support for XP in under 90 days.
In spite of being one of the most often utilized consumer technologies all around the world, several ATMs continue to function on backdated operating systems and with the April 8th deadline predominating, the ATM proprietors should go for the upgrade. But this night not be as easy as it seems to be for most of the machines, which continue to function on backdated hardware that may battle to sustain with a fresh new operating system, like Windows 7. According to the words of Suzanne Cluckey who is the editor of ATM Marketplace, “A hell load of ATMs will have to either upgrade their components or be thrown away completely and traded into the aftermarket.” The machines that are not quickly updated could experience substantial security exposures as more and more delicate points in the OS are unrevealed. And although Microsoft assured to prolong the support for Microsoft Security Essentials till 2015, the operating system completely will yet miss regular security mends – something which could conclude severely for the machines into where lakhs of people deposit cash on regular basis. Small shops which do not have the resources available to switch to a bigger sized businesses would be affected the greatest and to a bad extent, as they’re the most slow ones to modify. And still customers are secured under industry security measures, those operating the machines will be affected the heaviest by any vicious attacks.
It is hoped that ATM dealers will keep in mind these observations and update their ATM components as soon as possible: The malware transmission speed for Windows XP is already nearly six times more prominent than Windows 8 systems, and in spite of humble requests from the Chinese government for Microsoft to extend support, and an exemplary to the Indian banking industry that points to ‘significant dangers’ if they do not change over the operating systems, those a bit less than techie operators may yet experience their ATMs confront a important terror.
About Nick
Nick is a Software Engineer. He has interest in gadgets and technical stuffs. If you are facing any problem with your Windows, feel free to ask him.