Some of the UK's biggest banks race to update Windows XP ATMs. - Did they lose all their IT budget during 2008 Market Crash?

At least they are lucky as Microsoft had already extended the deadline for its point of sale operating system XP Embedded - found in many ATMs and cash register units - until 2016.

According to the article:- 

She added that the majority of these upgrades would take place during 2014 and 2015. "During this migration period, ATM operators will mitigate any additional risk through the use of third-party security software and/or by purchasing extended Windows XP support."

The links below has more information:

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2334526/banks-race-to-update-windows-xp-atms-as-support-deadline-looms

XP support ends , after that what?

Just as expected - security community has warned that hackers are hoarding exploits to let loose on unsuspecting firms once support ends

Seriously, I understand that it is a big project but XP has been there for 10+ years and am I supposed to be convinced that organizations had no plans to upgrade.

Apparently, someone does not understand or care about System Life Cycle concepts.

Those who did not bother to upgrade till now are directly/indirectly not bothered about security so whatever happens, there will be no one else but themselves to blame.

SNIPPET from the Article:-

“The first major exploit that hits the headlines is really going to drive the point home and convince those at the board level or in the executive team it is worth putting time and money into upgrading systems to avoid suffering the same fate,” said Ferguson.

“Organisations would be well advised to take stock now of their exposure, if they haven’t already done so, and assess the risk that this might bring to their business,” he said. “They can then understand the scope of the problem and plan to mitigate against the potential risk that this might bring.”

The links below has more information:

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/analysis/2333009/hackers-hoarding-windows-xp-exploits-for-cut-off-bonanza

Bromium Researcher's statement on Microsoft EMET - "By 100 percent bypass, we mean all the protections of EMET were enabled, and we bypassed them,"

The research from isn't just purely theoretical, said Kashyap, adding that the techniques the company discovered to bypass EMET can in fact be turned into a weapon by an attacker. Kashyap noted that in Bromium's research paper, a use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser that has already been patched, is leveraged to bypass all EMET protections.




The link below has more details:

http://www.eweek.com/security/microsofts-emet-security-technology-isnt-impenetrable-bromium.html