It’s not inconceivable that the bad guys are already working on and storing up new zero day exploits until after July 14, when they can deploy for maximum effect.
Without adequate security measures to shield systems against attack, firms are at risk from new exploits targeting vulnerabilities in the OS for which Microsoft is no longer producing patches. Yet with some estimates putting the number of Windows Server 2003 machines out there at 10 million globally at least, there will be enough exposed companies to attract the attention of the black hats. Others may have found that mission critical applications and hardware running on top of the platform aren’t compatible with upgraded versions – further delaying and complicating matters. Some may have run out of budget or resource and need to wait before migrating. There are many reasons why firms will still be running the 12-year-old server OS after July 14. That’s why we are recommending our Deep Security platform as the best way of ensuring that Windows Server 2003 End-of-Life (EoL) doesn’t become the biggest security threat of 2015. There might be good reasons for doing so, but without taking the proper precautions first, businesses could unwittingly advertise themselves to cyber criminals as an attractive target for attack. But despite having had over a year to prepare, the likelihood is that, come July, many organisations will still be running a major piece of software for which security updates are no longer available.
We’ve been here before, of course, most recently with Windows XP. July 14 th represents another major date in the calendar for IT professionals across the globe: the official end of Microsoft support for Windows Server 2003.
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