The big fear in health care is change. The technology field, which arguably drives nearly every other industry, is about to have big changes in the next couple years.
Microsoft announced recently that it is going to be ending extended support for Windows 7 as of January 14, 2020. Now this seems far off, but it's only a little more than a year from now. Meaning if your IT department doesn’t already have an upgrade plan, they should start one now.
Windows 7 did enter extended support back in 2015, however under extended support, Windows 7 still received security updates but no new features. After the 2020 deadline there will be no new features.
This means that if you company doesn’t upgrade to at least Windows 8.1 or 10 by this time you are susceptible to new attacks.
This has happened before. The biggest catalyst for people to move off Windows XP, widely considered the most stable Windows release, was the end of support and updates. The elimination of support left them open to hackers who could bury into their system in exploitable ways due to vulnerabilities that Microsoft wouldn't patch.
Does your care organization have a plan to deal with Windows changes?
FACT: Health care is the most hacked industry in the world.
The options for your company at this moment are begin an upgrade plan to Windows 10, which has service until at least 2025. Between now and then there will most likely be new Windows versions, but Windows 10 is a smooth transition from Windows 7 and is easy to navigate and certainly makes handling IT easier especially if you are not an IT person. If you need assistance in looking into this transition or just have general questions about Microsoft support windows, please ask us, our email is below.
Learn how to protect your data with our quick video...
