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XP migration poses risks for SMEs

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 15 Apr 2014
With limited budgets and IT expertise, many small businesses have found it challenging to manage a platform upgrade of this size post the XP cut off, says Chanel Homan, channel manager at McAfee SA.
With limited budgets and IT expertise, many small businesses have found it challenging to manage a platform upgrade of this size post the XP cut off, says Chanel Homan, channel manager at McAfee SA.

Microsoft Windows XP reached its official end of life on 8 April, yet almost a third of the world's machines are still running on the operating system, leaving smaller businesses at risk of major security breaches.

So says Chanel Homan, channel manager at McAfee SA, who notes that Microsoft has not only discontinued technical support but also security patches, leading to a huge opportunity for security risks when vulnerabilities are made public but patches are no longer provided.

To Homan, migrating to alternative operating systems such as Windows 7 and 8 is costly and time-consuming. She says with limited budgets and IT expertise, many small businesses have found it challenging to manage a platform upgrade of this size.

"Many of these businesses have yet to grasp the risk they are exposing their business to if they haven't taken additional security measures or migrated platforms. Worryingly, many SMEs may also confuse Microsoft's extension of its anti-malware support for Windows XP to mean that this OS will remain protected - when, in reality, these businesses will still be vulnerable to zero-day attacks and other data security breaches, unless action is taken now," says Homan.

She mentions that smaller businesses are likely to need more guidance through a changing and increasingly confusing technology and security landscape than their larger counterparts - and this is an opportunity for the channel to be a vital ally in negotiating this challenging territory. "We know many retailers, for example, are struggling with the migration due to application compatibility issues with many point of sales systems only supported by Windows XP," she says.

"Many retailers also don't fully understand the risk of compliancy, such as PCI DSS, being invalidated should they continue with an unsupported and unprotected system. Providing step-by-step guidance on migration plans or advice on the short-term security measures to maintain data security, will ensure partners are best placed to offer a long-term roadmap for IT requirements," says Homan.

Homan notes that with more than 500 million machines still running XP, Gartner figures reveal the global install base of PCs at the end of 2013 at 1.63 billion units, and net market share data has XP at close to 30% worldwide at the end of 2013, many VARs and MSPs should also see this as an opportunity to expand their product portfolio.

For example, she says, partners specialising in desktop infrastructure can now look to provide the security support much needed by SMEs, as part of their overall offering.

She cites that by helping SMEs safely through the Windows XP security gap, resellers and partners are not only able to explore new revenue streams and expand offerings, but ultimately be valued as trusted advisors, integral to their customers' success.

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