According to Metro Americas , the US State Department has recently been criticized for still using Windows XP on some of its computers. This is surprising because Windows XP has been outdated for more than a decade and has not received an official update since 2014.
Windows XP stopped receiving updates from Microsoft a decade ago.
The GAO report revealed that the State Department has “23,689 hardware systems and 3,102 server and network operating system software installations that have reached end-of-life.” This raises cybersecurity concerns, as outdated and unsupported operating systems can be vulnerable to attack.
Notably, the report also states that the department's cybersecurity program "meets federal requirements," which seems contradictory, given that using an outdated operating system like Windows XP poses unnecessary risks to information security.
The question is why the US State Department has not updated its operating system to a newer version, such as Windows 7 or Windows 10. With a budget of up to 73.77 billion USD in 2023, it is strange that this update has not been done.
The GAO report is expected to spur the State Department to take action and update its outdated operating systems. Cybersecurity is a fundamental concern in today's digital age, and it is important that all organizations, including the government, stay on top of best practices in this area.
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