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07.01.10 Windows XP SP2 Deadline Looms  By Mike Sachoff More than three-quarters (77%) of organizations could face security risks due to Microsoft ending support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), according to a new report from technology provider Softchoice. Softchoice's analysis of 278,498 corporate and public sector PCs found almost half are still running Microsoft XP SP2. Support for this service pack, including security updates, officially ends on July 13, 2010. It is estimated that nearly eight out of every 10 organizations have a high enough prevalence of SP2 in their environment to warrant immediate action to update their systems. Failing to do so could create unnecessary security risks as hackers continue to look for vulnerabilities knowing that software updates will no longer be forthcoming from Microsoft. "We were surprised by the number of people who have not yet deployed Service Pack 3," said Dean Williams, Services Development Manager for Softchoice. "Microsoft announced the expiration date in April of 2008, yet forty-five percent of the machines we looked at are still running SP2. If organizations aren't already on top of this they should be moving quickly to update their systems." The data used in the analysis was collected between January and June of 2010. The timeliness of this snapshot lends a heightened sense of urgency given the limited timeframe with which organizations have to act before support for Service Pack 2 ends. While offered free of charge by Microsoft, the work involved in deploying Windows SP3 is not insignificant for larger organizations or those without systems management technology in place. "While there were some documented issues when Service Pack 3 first launched, this was much more of an incremental upgrade compared to the major overhaul represented by Service Pack 2," added Mr. Williams. "Many users rightfully delayed their SP2 deployments but at this point there really isn't a compelling reason to delay the move to SP3." About the Author: Mike is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news. |
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