UK Government to Shut Out Windows XP Users from Remote Access

With Microsoft set to stop updating Windows XP in early April, the UK government has issued a host of guidelines to mitigate the transition for workers still using the old operating system. That includes cutting off remote access for workers who are still using XP on their personal computer. 

“This will reduce the risk of the enterprise network being exposed to a compromised unpatched device,” the guidance read.

The outline also urged UK government IT security workers to react quickly to any security breaches, as well as update all anti-malware products. 

“Over time new vulnerabilities will be discovered and be exploitable by relatively low skilled attackers,” the document read.

Microsoft announced it was ending update support for XP on April 8th, and is urging current users to upgrade operating systems or, in some cases, buy a new PC that supports newer operating systems. Microsoft has warned that when support ends, computers will be vulnerable to attack. 

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“But now the time has come for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources toward supporting more recent technologies so that we can continue to deliver great new experiences,” the company stated on its website.

While introduced almost 12 years ago, XP is still an incredibly popular operating system. According to NetMarketshare, which tracks operating system data, as of January 2014 some 29.23 percent of desktops run XP as the operating system.