Several Banks And Government Institutions Are Still Running Windows XP

As we head into the final innings of aging old Windows XP, one thing is fast becoming clear. There is a sure and certain reason why a large portion of the user base has held off from upgrading. Cost.

While most small businesses and smaller set ups have made the move, many organizations across the world are still yet to initiate the transition to a newer operating system — and a substantial portion of these are financial and governmental in nature.

A new study shows that banks and government organizations are still on Windows XP, less than six months before end of support.

This research was conducted by a market consulting and analytics firm that goes by the name of Ascentius Consulting and shows that some 52 percent of the computers in banks in India are still running the aging OS. The corresponding figure for government organizations came in at 30 percent.

The general manager of Windows Business Group at Microsoft, Amrish Goyal, in an interview said:

“We see that software companies have a good plan to fully migrate by April, and even manufacturing companies have a fairly good plan to meet the deadline.

But we see absolutely no plan in the BFSI sector. It takes about three to six months for a full migration to take place. Indian public sector banks are not taking the issue as seriously as it is.”

This exposes them to a terrifying amount of risk, and it becomes increasingly clear why Microsoft is pushing for the Windows XP user base to upgrade to a newer, more secure version of Windows. A regretful incident or two could have potentially serious security implications.