By the time you read these words...
The last day for Windows 7 support has already come and gone. The date set by Microsoft has been well known to most Windows 7 users for a while now, and the end of the line is officially January 14th, 2020.
If your organization still has a few machines running on Windows 7, from here on, you're on your own. Every new bug found should be treated as a zero-day because no new security patches or bug fixes are coming.
If you cannot or will not migrate away from Windows 7, you're going to find yourself increasingly at risk. Fortunately, there are third-party solutions that can help mitigate that risk, including Cynet. Cynet describes itself as autonomous breach protection for Windows 7 users.
Cynet's CEO Eyal Gruner had this to say
"The reality is that Windows 7 is alive and kicking in many organizations, even if Microsoft chooses not to protect them anymore. It should be a wake-up call to any CISO to ask himself or herself how to adjust to this new reality.
One of our main guidelines when building Cynet 360 was to be able to operate in a fast-changing environment, meaning that every type of attack is analyzed from multiple perspectives, each resulting in a different protection mechanism. If we take exploits targeting Windows 7 as an example, there is first the exploit protection per se. By closely monitoring process behavior in memory, the detection engine can easily detect behavioral patterns that are typical to exploits and would never occur in a legitimate process."
Our perspective
This then is one possible security solution. You'll pay a hefty premium for it, but if you need your Windows 7 machines and want a measure of security, the added cost is part of the equation. The costs of upgrading to Windows 10 may be less, so look into it.
~ As Hill Street Blues' Sgt. Esterhaus always advised: "Hey, let's be careful out there! " ~
Meanwhile, check out this report
This free executive report may give you insights into how to build your business with safe IT environments: 10 Hidden IT Risks That Might Threaten Your Business and 1 Easy Way to Find Them
The author
Thanks for reading this short post. For more tips on thriving with small business technology, check out the other blog posts at DWPia Blogs. I am also available on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
I am Denis Wilson, President and Principal Consultant for DWP Information Architects. I help professionals grow their business by building a foundation of rock-solid information solutions for smaller healthcare, insurance, financial, legal, and nonprofits firms in Ventura County and San Fernando Valley. And have created cost-effective IT solutions, for over 20 years, specializing in cybersecurity and regulatory compliance. I am also a published author and speaker, working extensively with a variety of organizations, as well as providing small business technology education programs through business and professional associations. This just in: I will be speaking regularly at California Lutheran University's Center for Nonprofit Leadership starting in September.
Contact me if you would like me to speak at your association.
