Millions of PCs Found Running Outdated Versions of Popular Software

Security vendor Avast has released its PC Trends Report 2019
revealing that millions of users are making themselves vulnerable
to cyber attacks by keeping outdated versions of popular
applications on their computers.

Probably the most overlooked vectors for any cyber attack is
out-of-date programs, which most of the times, is the result of the
users’ laziness and company’s administrators ignoring the security
updates in a business environment as they can’t afford the
downtime.

According to the report [PDF^[1]], Adobe
Shockwave tops the list of software that most user left outdated on
their PCs, followed by VLC Media Player, Skype, Java Runtime
Environment , 7-Zip File Manager, and Foxit
Reader.

However, it is not only applications but also operating systems
that are out of date. Almost 15% of all Windows 7 computers and 9%
of all Windows 10 computers are running an outdated version of the
operating systems.

To understand the risk, there could be no better example than the
Global WannaCry menace that largely infected networks that used
out-of-date operating systems, like Windows XP, for which Microsoft
no longer offers technical support.

WannaCry was taking advantage of a dangerous security hole in
Microsoft Windows that had already been fixed by the company months
before the ransomware threat strikes the whole world.

“With the right amount of care, such as cleaning our hardware’s
insides using cleaners, optimization and security products, PCs
will be safe and reliable for even longer.”

The bottom line: Keeping your operating systems and software
applications patched and up-to-date can protect you from cyber
attacks and prevent hackers from taking advantage of your
vulnerable machine to steal your personal and sensitive
data.