With major support having ended for Windows 7, companies and end/home users who continue to rely on Windows 7 may be at risk. Microsoft announced that as of January 14th of 2020, they will no longer be pushing security updates for Windows 7, which are meant to cover new and existing vulnerabilities. With these updates no longer being pushed out for that operating system, there is an increased risk that some new vulnerabilities will be found and exploited. These vulnerabilities may cause loss of data or even allow for the creation of back doors for hackers to leave malicious malware on existing systems.
To reduce these risks, the best course of action is to upgrade all systems to Windows 10, which is actively patched and supported. For the foreseeable future, Microsoft will respond to Windows 10 related threats and try to remediate issues as the company's capabilities allow. If your organization is still reliant on Windows 7 or other deprecated systems and needs cybersecurity support for planning and upgrading your infrastructure, contact Silent Sector for a complementary consultation.