In a move that throws the UK’s government IT footprint wide open to hackers of all stripes, the Government Digital Service has decided not to extend its £5.5m deal with Microsoft for support for Windows XP. When the contract runs out at the end of the month (as in, Sunday), “weaknesses that are found in unsupported products will remain unpatched and will be exploitable by relatively low-skilled attackers,” the office warned. Obviously, in the case of the UK, the dangers are considerable: NHS patient data, police investigation data, state secrets and other sensitive information can be exposed via Trojans and spyware, among other dangers.
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