Nearly every organisation has some legacy systems somewhere – we still have both flavours of Zip Drives available and other out of date hardware just in case. Our legacy systems are because of what we do, but in most cases, it is financial considerations that means old and vulnerable systems are still around.
Balancing the delivery of vital services against IT spending on a legacy is a difficult choice for any local authority. When everything goes right the council is praised for its financial wisdom and when it goes wrong, councils like Oxford City Council, have to start explaining what has gone wrong and what data they have let be exposed.
Oxford City Council suffers breach exposing two decades of data – BleepingComputer
Your Takeaway
I have two takeaways for you.
The first is if you have a legacy system, especially if it contains sensitive or personal information, think about taking those systems offline, disconnecting them from your network and the internet and just access them locally.
The second is that Windows 10 machines will become vulnerable legacy systems later this year. You will need a plan to replace them, if you have not done so already.
If you want more information on the Windows 10 end-of-service, have a read of Martin’s article here:
Clive Catton MSc (Cyber Security) – by-line and other articles
