The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) indicates that more than a million machines are still on the decade-old operating system with less than six months until Microsoft ceases support for Windows 7.
In answer to a written parliamentary question from shadow Cabinet Office Minister Jo Platt, former Department of Health and Social Care Minister Jackie Doyle-Price said that the NHS operates about 1.37 million PCs. As of the end of last month, some 1.05 million of these, equating to 76% of the overall total, still run on Windows 7, she added.
Platt – whose parliamentary question recently revealed that there are still 2,300 computers across the NHS running Windows XP, for which support ended five years ago – claimed that the widespread use of Windows 7 is “deeply concerning”. She added: “The WannaCry cyberattack two years ago starkly proved the dangers of operating outdated software. Unless the government swiftly acts and learns from their past mistakes, they are risking a repeat of WannaCry. Protecting public data and computer systems should be a highest priority of government...".
Source: Public Technology.net, 30 July 2019
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