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- Microsoft to cease support for Windows XP on April 8th
- Experts believe only 95% of ATMs run the software
- Could leave machines vulnerable to hackers
Cashpoints around the world could be left vulnerable to hacker attacks.
It is believed millions are still running Microsoft's Windows XP, first introduced 13 years ago.
However, on April 8th, Microsoft will stop issuing securoty updates, in a bid to get people to upgrade.
The aging OS, which was replaced by Windows Vista in 2007, Windows 7 in 2009, Windows 8 in 2012 and Windows 8.1 in 2013.
Experts say many of the ATMs may have to be dumped, and that 95% of ATMs in use runs windows XP.
'My bank operates an ATM that looks like it must be 20 years old, and there’s no way that it can support Windows 7,' Suzanne Cluckey, the editor of ATM Marketplace, a news site that serves the industry, told Bloomberg.
'A lot of ATMs will have to either have their components upgraded or be discarded altogether and sold into the aftermarket—or just junked.'
Experts say that as little as 15% of ATMs run on Windows 7, and warn the industry faces major problems.
Aravinda Korala, chief executive officer of ATM software provider KAL, says he expects only 15 percent of bank ATMs in the U.S. to be on Windows 7 by the April deadline.
'The ATM world is not really ready, and that’s not unusual,' he says.
'ATMs move more slowly than PCs.'
ATMs set to be left vulnerable as Microsoft ends support for Windows XP | Mail Online
