Millions of computers in India have a fraught deadline looming

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On January 14, 2020, Microsoft will pull the plug on extended support for its Windows 7 operating system. A massive 41.42% of Windows operating system-based computers in India still run Windows 7, according to October numbers from Statcounter, a service that logs such data. That is millions of machines and would include systems that are used in critical sectors like finance and in the government. As yet, it is unclear if these systems are actively being upgraded.Pulling off extended support means that Microsoft will stop issuing patches that fix bugs and other vulnerabilities in these software. Several cybersecurity incidents in the past have been a result of users using software that was either past it or not updating their software. Malicious actors often exploit these vulnerabilities and could insert worms and other malware, including ransomware. Representatives at Microsoft in Singapore warned that lack of upgrading and updating could leave many users in India and around the world vulnerable to a cyberattack. India has been one of the markets where Microsoft has found it especially tough to get adoption of newer versions going. In India, 1.11% of systems even use Windows XP, a version from as far ago as 2001. India is doing worse than the rest of the world when it comes to upgrading its systems. According to Statcounter, more than 10 years from launch, Windows 7 is the second most popular version of the operating system around the world with a 27.98% share of the total Windows OS ecosystem. The company had ended mainstream support for Windows 7 in January 2015. Microsoft had earlier this year issued a patch to users of several editions of Windows to rectify a vulnerability nicknamed BlueKeep. It had even taken the unusual step to make this patch available for Windows XP, even though support had ended years ago. Meanwhile, to showcase its products to its clients in the region, Microsoft has opened a new Experience Center in their regional headquarters in Singapore, its first such facility outside of its headquarters near Seattle in the US. A cybersecurity centre forms part of the new facility along with other practices dubbed Microsoft Technology Center, Innovation Factory, and an Experience Zone. The cybersecurity centre, the company says, will showcase threat-intelligence analytics, and will be used to create awareness about cybercrime threats.

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