CYBER RISKS
CYBER RISKS & LIABILITIES
Managing End-Of-Life Software
At some point , all software will reach the end of its life . This means manufacturers will no longer develop or service the product , discontinuing all technical support , upgrades , bug fixes , and security fixes . As a result , end-of-life ( EOL ) software will have known vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can easily exploit . This
article discusses the risks of continuing to use EOL software and discusses best practices for organizations to mitigate this risk .
RISKS OF EOL
Known but unmitigated vulnerabilities are among the highest cybersecurity risks . One survey found that 60 % of data breaches stemmed from unpatched known vulnerabilities . Another report found that 3 out of every 4 cyberattacks in 2020 exploited security vulnerabilities from 2017 or earlier .
Organizations may be hesitant to transition away from EOL software for a number of reasons , such as :
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