By Nigel Tan, Director, Systems Engineering with Symantec Malaysia
Yes, the Windows XP end of support by Microsoft is clocked at April 8, 2014.
Symantec published an article articulating that machines running on Windows XP will be exposed to the greatest risks after that deadline, more straining is the effect on certain POS (Point-of-Sales) machines which run on Windows XP embedded.
While the end of support for Windows XP embedded is still not around the corner yet - January 2016 - it is imperative that all parties act now to ensure smooth transition.
The article effectively describes the evolution of threats surrounding POS machines and reminds us that evolution of malwares and its egregious nature remains the biggest threat yet so far.
Comparing to other older fashion hardware based threats such as deployment of skimming devices onto credit card readers, malwares are software and evolve faster and are conspicuous - hardware based threats are easily defeated after being exposed thereafter.
In retrospect, Symantec recommends layered security protection.
Layered means it is meant for virtual infrastructure.
For instance, let's say you receive an email from a suspicious person and you wanted to isolate the risks.
The conventional approach is to buy a email exchange gateway box with built-in security solution so that the hardware will scan the email, detect threats and then clear it before forwarding it to you (at your PC).
However, this approach is considered less attractive when it comes to a virtual environment with Virtual Machines and Software Defined Networks because the whole architecture seems flattened - to know the best point to setup the box is a big question.
Hence, a layered security solution can help because it can be deployed to a Virtual Machine sitting in between a mashed up networks and it is able to scan emails as if it is the email exchange gateway - it works because it leverages on the concept of networking by tracking the vectors of every data moving in and out of the network.
Read full the article.
Yes, the Windows XP end of support by Microsoft is clocked at April 8, 2014.
Symantec published an article articulating that machines running on Windows XP will be exposed to the greatest risks after that deadline, more straining is the effect on certain POS (Point-of-Sales) machines which run on Windows XP embedded.
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| Nigel Tan |
While the end of support for Windows XP embedded is still not around the corner yet - January 2016 - it is imperative that all parties act now to ensure smooth transition.
The article effectively describes the evolution of threats surrounding POS machines and reminds us that evolution of malwares and its egregious nature remains the biggest threat yet so far.
Comparing to other older fashion hardware based threats such as deployment of skimming devices onto credit card readers, malwares are software and evolve faster and are conspicuous - hardware based threats are easily defeated after being exposed thereafter.
In retrospect, Symantec recommends layered security protection.
Layered means it is meant for virtual infrastructure.
For instance, let's say you receive an email from a suspicious person and you wanted to isolate the risks.
The conventional approach is to buy a email exchange gateway box with built-in security solution so that the hardware will scan the email, detect threats and then clear it before forwarding it to you (at your PC).
However, this approach is considered less attractive when it comes to a virtual environment with Virtual Machines and Software Defined Networks because the whole architecture seems flattened - to know the best point to setup the box is a big question.
Hence, a layered security solution can help because it can be deployed to a Virtual Machine sitting in between a mashed up networks and it is able to scan emails as if it is the email exchange gateway - it works because it leverages on the concept of networking by tracking the vectors of every data moving in and out of the network.
Read full the article.
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