Users of older versions of Windows 7 and 8.1 in Russia and other countries may experience Internet access and security issues as Microsoft has ended support. The newspaper writes about it “News”.
A source from one of the digital companies stated that Microsoft stopped supporting these systems in 2020 and 2023 respectively, but about 20% of Russians still install these systems.
Internet access problems for users can arise due to the refusal of the world’s largest developers to support versions of Internet browsers that work with Windows 7 and 8.1: Mozilla (Firefox browser), Opera, Microsoft (Edge) and Google (Chrome).
For users of older operating systems, some sites may not open or malfunction, and there is also a risk of personal data leaking. The expert warned that the latter is worrisome because of the frequent discovery of security vulnerabilities in Chrome.
According to Kaspersky Lab cybersecurity expert Boris Larin, legacy browsers are vulnerable to vulnerabilities, and after the end of support, remote code execution tools that can be used by attackers become publicly available. He explained that it would be enough for a user to follow a link to a malicious site or go to a normal resource containing a malicious banner, and attackers would already be able to gain full control over the computer, risking infection. It is also high in viruses.
According to Larin, browser developers could release an automatic update that would completely ban the use of non-updatable browsers on older Windows operating systems.
According to experts, 50-60 million users of PC versions of browsers may experience problems, first of all, with security.
Microsoft’s forever close Internet Explorer on February 14, 2023 on computers running Windows 10.