Because best practices for connecting an unsupported operating system to the Internet are to not do it.
Even if the OS is safe on the day support ends, a critical vulnerability might be found just a few days later. It’s also possible that an exploit has already been found that the bad actor is sitting on it until support ends.
Even if that doesn’t happen, software developers are going to drop support for the OS and vulnerabilities found in those applications could be used to gain ingress.
No amount of “being careful using the Internet” is going to prevent hacking if the system has exploits. If you context a fresh install of XP to the Internet, your system will be compromised in a matter of minutes.
It’s not flat out wrong though. Best practices for when your OS is EOL are different to best practices for a currently supported OS.
All those “experiments” where people go online with a new install of xp and are compromised in minutes disable windows firewall and don’t use any antivirus software. You seem like an expert - is that best practice? Do regular people just turn off the Windows firewall and disable their AV?
Believe it or not, firewalls and AV still stop unpatched security vulnerabilities - the security patches just mean they don’t have to.
Absolutely you will be able to. How many previous versions of Windows have exploits that don’t require the user to do anything other than be connected to the Internet for their machine to be compromised?
This has literally happened repeatedly in the past. Just last year an exploit came to light affecting Windows XP that was so bad Microsoft had to release another security patch for it. WannaCry and NotPetya malwares used similarly severe exploits in 2017.
Again though - best practice for using an EOL OS in 2025 mean that an attack like wannacry wouldn’t affect you, since you wouldn’t have the SMB ports exposed to the internet. You’d also have AV software - Defender at a minimum, which is fantastic - and the Windows firewall on.
Windows XP came out in 2001. Wannacry was 16 years later. Windows XP was from basically the beginning of the consumer internet, a different era. Windows 10 has a quarter of a century of knowledge and development on top of that. With each subsequent OS, the number of exploits that would get through the basic windows firewall and defender AV plummeted. An attack can’t get through on port X if port X is closed. Even if port X was open, the windows firewall or defender would stop it and warn the user. It’s almost like the developers learn from the past.
Basic online safety to you and me can be a bit high-level for many, disproportionately so for those who are going to remain on Windows 10. I don’t like Windows, either 10 or 11, but most of the hardware losing support with 10’s EOL can run a secure and modern operating system just fine, and Windows 11 could have been that if not for the overhead of Microsoft’s telemetry and other bloat. Home users lacking computer proficiency are being thrown under the bus so that Microsoft can generate metric tons of ewaste as they force their enterprise customers to purchase new hardware. With fresh new license keys.
An operating system ending support isn’t in any way the same as bricking a product.
People can safely use Windows 10 online for the next decade as long as they follow basic online safety.
Don’t give out infosec advice if you have no fucking clue what you’re talking about.
You think windows 10 just becomes unsafe because it stops getting security updates?
Lol.
Not immediately, no, but saying you can safely continue using it if you follow Internet use best practices is flat out wrong.
Is it? How?
Because best practices for connecting an unsupported operating system to the Internet are to not do it.
Even if the OS is safe on the day support ends, a critical vulnerability might be found just a few days later. It’s also possible that an exploit has already been found that the bad actor is sitting on it until support ends.
Even if that doesn’t happen, software developers are going to drop support for the OS and vulnerabilities found in those applications could be used to gain ingress.
No amount of “being careful using the Internet” is going to prevent hacking if the system has exploits. If you context a fresh install of XP to the Internet, your system will be compromised in a matter of minutes.
It’s not flat out wrong though. Best practices for when your OS is EOL are different to best practices for a currently supported OS.
All those “experiments” where people go online with a new install of xp and are compromised in minutes disable windows firewall and don’t use any antivirus software. You seem like an expert - is that best practice? Do regular people just turn off the Windows firewall and disable their AV?
Believe it or not, firewalls and AV still stop unpatched security vulnerabilities - the security patches just mean they don’t have to.
This is a fucking braindead take. A few months, a year, maaaybe? But a decade? No chance in hell.
Absolutely you will be able to. How many previous versions of Windows have exploits that don’t require the user to do anything other than be connected to the Internet for their machine to be compromised?
It’s literally happened to every single version of Windows, 10 and below.
If you disable the firewall and AV, sure, you can get in trouble. That’s not following even the most basic online safety steps though.
Every single one. Lol.
So windows 8 computers that connect to the Internet just become compromised?
Well, unless some exploit is discovered that doesn’t require user interaction. Then merely being connected puts your device at risk.
And given historical precedent, it’s going to be a matter of time until one is discovered.
A very long matter.
This has literally happened repeatedly in the past. Just last year an exploit came to light affecting Windows XP that was so bad Microsoft had to release another security patch for it. WannaCry and NotPetya malwares used similarly severe exploits in 2017.
Again though - best practice for using an EOL OS in 2025 mean that an attack like wannacry wouldn’t affect you, since you wouldn’t have the SMB ports exposed to the internet. You’d also have AV software - Defender at a minimum, which is fantastic - and the Windows firewall on.
Windows XP came out in 2001. Wannacry was 16 years later. Windows XP was from basically the beginning of the consumer internet, a different era. Windows 10 has a quarter of a century of knowledge and development on top of that. With each subsequent OS, the number of exploits that would get through the basic windows firewall and defender AV plummeted. An attack can’t get through on port X if port X is closed. Even if port X was open, the windows firewall or defender would stop it and warn the user. It’s almost like the developers learn from the past.
Basic online safety to you and me can be a bit high-level for many, disproportionately so for those who are going to remain on Windows 10. I don’t like Windows, either 10 or 11, but most of the hardware losing support with 10’s EOL can run a secure and modern operating system just fine, and Windows 11 could have been that if not for the overhead of Microsoft’s telemetry and other bloat. Home users lacking computer proficiency are being thrown under the bus so that Microsoft can generate metric tons of ewaste as they force their enterprise customers to purchase new hardware. With fresh new license keys.
Enterprises dont need to buy new license keys every time they buy a new machine. That’s the whole point of Microsoft’s enterprise licensing.