Windows 7 | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

New details have emerged about the remote computer intrusion at a Florida water treatment facility last Friday, highlighting a lack of adequate security measures needed to bulletproof critical infrastructure environments. The breach involved an  unsuccessful attempt  on the part of an adversary to increase sodium hydroxide dosage in the water supply to dangerous levels by remotely accessing the SCADA system at the water treatment plant. The system's plant operator, who spotted the intrusion, quickly took steps to reverse the command, leading to minimal impact. Now, according to an  advisory  published on Wednesday by the state of Massachusetts, unidentified cyber actors accessed the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system via TeamViewer software installed on one of the plant's several computers that were connected to the control system. Not only were these computers running 32-bit versions of the Windows 7 operating system, but the machines also shared the

January 14, 2020, is a day cybersecurity stakeholders should pay attention to, as it marks the end of Microsoft support in Windows 7. From a security perspective, both the routine monthly security patches as well as hotfixes for attacks in the wild will not be available, effectively making any newly discovered vulnerability a Windows 7 zero-day. Cynet 360 autonomous breach protection is a good example of a multilayered advanced protection solution that can enable organizations who run Windows 7 to remain secure despite the end of support ( to learn more click here ). Let's dig a bit deeper to understand the risk. The reality is that all software contains bugs. Ideally, these bugs are discovered during the development process. In practice, many of them surface only following the product release in the course of their interactions with real users. Bugs that can be exploited for malicious purposes are called vulnerabilities. Microsoft conducts rigorous and ongoing research

The introduction of Open AI's ChatGPT was a defining moment for the software industry, touching off a GenAI race with its November 2022 release. SaaS vendors are now rushing to upgrade tools with enhanced productivity capabilities that are driven by generative AI. Among a wide range of uses, GenAI tools make it easier for developers to build software, assist sales teams in mundane email writing, help marketers produce unique content at low cost, and enable teams and creatives to brainstorm new ideas.  Recent significant GenAI product launches include Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Salesforce Einstein GPT. Notably, these GenAI tools from leading SaaS providers are paid enhancements, a clear sign that no SaaS provider will want to miss out on cashing in on the GenAI transformation. Google will soon launch its SGE "Search Generative Experience" platform for premium AI-generated summaries rather than a list of websites.  At this pace, it's just a matter of a short time befo

A new reminder for those who are still holding on to the Windows 7 operating system—you have one year left until Microsoft ends support for its 9-year-old operating system. So it's time for you to upgrade your OS and say goodbye to Windows 7, as its five years of extended support will end on January 14, 2020—that's precisely one year from today. After that date, the tech giant will no longer release free security updates, bug fixes and new functionalities for the operating system that's still widely used by people, which could eventually leave a significant number of users more susceptible to malware attacks. However, the end of free support doesn't end Windows 7 support for big business and enterprise customers. As always, Microsoft does make exceptions for certain companies that are willing to pay a lot of money to continue their support. According to a 'Death of Windows 7' report from content delivery firm Kollective, as many as 43% of enterprises

You might have heard the latest news about Microsoft blocking new security patches and updates for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users running the latest processors from Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and others. Don't panic, this new policy doesn't mean that all Windows 7 and 8.1 users will not be able to receive latest updates in general because Microsoft has promised to support Windows 7 until 2020 , and Windows 8.1 until 2023. But those who have upgraded their machines running older versions of Windows to the latest processors, or manually downgraded their new laptops to run Windows 7/8.1 would be out of luck. A recently published Microsoft Knowledge Base article suggests that if you are running the older version of operating systems on your computers that feature new processors, including Intel's 7th generation Core i3, i5 and i7 ("Kaby Lake"), AMD Ryzen ("Bristol Ridge") and Qualcomm 8996 chips or later, the security updates will not install. Inste

Someone is threatening Windows 7 users with a misleading warning. Guess who? Microsoft itself… Microsoft has just issued a clear warning saying Windows 7 users should remain on the aging operating system " at your own risk, at your own peril. " But why particularly Windows 7 Users? Since Windows 7 runs on 55 percent of all the computers on the planet, Microsoft is worried that its goal to reach 1 Billion Windows 10 installations by 2017 could be harder. During a recent interview with the Windows Weekly , Microsoft chief marketing officer Chris Capossela warned about the risks of using Windows 7 and urged users that it's time to switch to the new Windows 10 operating system instead. Capossela also stressed that Windows 7 is apparently less secure than Windows 10, so it is "so incredibly important to try to end the fragmentation of the Windows install base" as well as to get them to a "safer place." Here the so-called saf

Many Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users don't want to upgrade their machines to Microsoft's newest Windows 10 operating system now or anytime soon. Isn't it? But what if you wake up in the morning and found yourself a Windows 10 user? That's exactly what Microsoft is doing to Windows 7 and 8.1 users. Windows 10 Upgrade Becomes More Aggressive Ever since Microsoft launched its new operating system over the summer, Windows 7 and 8.1 users have been forced several number of times to upgrade their machines to Windows 10. It was relatively inoffensive at first, but as days have passed, Microsoft has become increasingly aggressive to push Windows users to upgrade to Windows 10 . Microsoft has left very little choice over whether to upgrade their systems to Windows 10 or not. At last, the users end up upgrading their machines to the latest Windows operating system. Users now see a pop up on their computers, as InfoWorld reports , that displays only t

No plan to install Windows 10 due to Microsoft's controversial data mining and privacy invasions within the operating system? Well, Windows 7 and Windows 8 OS users should also be worried as Windows 10 spying is now headed their way too… Microsoft has been caught installing latest updates onto Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers that effectively introduce the same data collecting and user behavior tracking features used in Windows 10. Under the new updates, the operating systems indiscriminately upload data to Microsoft's servers, which might be a major privacy concern for many users. Creepy Updates The updates in question are: KB3068708 – This update introduces the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to existing devices. KB3022345 (replaced by KB3068708 ) – This update adds the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to in-market devices. KB3075249 – This update adds telemetry points to the User Account Control (UAC) feature in order to collect data on ele

On January 13, 2015, Microsoft's mainstream support for Windows 7 Service Pack (SP) 1 ended, which means the end of free Windows 7's " mainstream support " period, with the operating system now entering "extended support." Many people are still running the aging Windows XP as well as Windows 7. Microsoft already ended its support for Windows XP officially about a year ago on April 8, 2014, and now the company found Windows 7 an old and cranky OS. END OF MAINSTREAM SUPPORT FOR WINDOWS 7 BUT NO WORRIES UNTIL 2020 However, it doesn't mean that the tech giant is going to automatically stop or break your operating system, but it does mean that the company will no longer offer free help and support in case you have any problem with your Windows 7 software. No new features will be added either. Windows 7 is still supported by the company and will continue to receive security updates for at least another five years, i.e. until Jan. 14, 2020. By