Microsoft XP Pro is Dead
In April of 2014, Microsoft discontinued security patch support for Windows XP Pro OS. At that time there were many POS Dealers and computer vendors trying to take advantage of the situation by telling merchants “the sky is falling and you MUST spend $XYZ to upgrade NOW!!”
At Total Merchant Supply, we took the act of giving our customers the facts so they could make an educated business decision about how and when to address the XP Pro issue. We advised clients, at that time, that they should be paying attention to the growing security risk posed by WIN XP PRO, increasingly as time passed beyond the April 2014 date, but that the world was not going to end in April 2014.
Since that time we have helped many merchants smoothly transition to more secure Windows 7, 8 and 10 operating systems.
BUT: NOW IT’S 2 1/2 YEARS LATER!
It’s time to get serious about replacing any remaining XP Pro operating systems NOW!! The time has passed for calm contemplation about the problem. If you are still running a POS system on the XP Pro operating system (with integrated credit card processing), then you ARE operating outside of PCI Compliance guidelines and the risk of a credit card hack is a real and present danger – right now! PCI Compliance is a fairly complicated mandate and becoming PCI Compliant involves a number of security factors and business processes. It is an ongoing business concern to become and then remain in compliance. This is NOT a one and done program. If your computers are running business versions of Windows 7, 8 or 10 you may or may not be PCI compliant depending on additional factors.
But if you are still running an XP Pro operating system, it is 100% guaranteed that you are NOT PCI Compliant regardless of what firewalls, antivirus, business practices, etc. you may have in place.
The time to act is now! You are way past the time to be addressing this issue. Each day that the situation continues is one more day that you are gambling with the ongoing survival of your company! If you’re still running XP Pro please contact us at Total Merchant Supply for a discussion about your exact situation and we’ll help you draft a plan to address the issue ASAP.
If you get hacked – even yesterday is not soon enough to act. Act now!
As always, we are here to help. Let us know if you have any questions.
Total Merchant Supply is a POS Dealer based in NC & SC.