With Microsoft pulling the plug on Windows XP this week, a security vendor has advised banks and finance institutions to block online transactions with customers using devices running the aged operating system.
Trend Micro Threat communications manager Christopher Budd said that with XP no longer getting security patches after April 8, it would be vulnerable to banking malware that can steal critical data.
"As an industry facing extraordinary, unprecedented risks around Windows XP,banking and finance should consider equally extraordinary, unprecedented steps to protect themselves by alerting customers who are on Windows XP of the risks and encouraging them to upgrade. In some cases, especially as time goes on, the banking and finance sector should consider taking steps to block customers still on Windows XP from their services entirely," Budd said in a blog post.
He said that while this is "an extreme measure as it will cause lost business," this step may be justified, if the risks of financial losses from Windows XP users exceed the risks of losses from losing those customers.
"It’s not desirable to turn customers away, but businesses do it all the time in service of their larger concerns. The coming situation with Windows XP and the risks those users pose to their banks and financial institutions is a good example of when these larger considerations pertain," he added.
He noted online banking malware is a "huge problem," with online banking malware more than doubling from 500,000 worldwide in 2012 to more than one million in 2013.
Such malware, combined with potential "never-to-be-patched vulnerabilities," may make online banking on Windows XP "incredibly dangerous soon," he added.
Budd suggested that banks and finance institutions create an alert on the risks of being on XP, once their sites detect the customer is using the aging OS.
However, he said those who tune out such warnings may have to be dealt with more drastically, lest the situation worse.
"Banks and financial institutions should also start considering the drastic measure of actively blocking users on Windows XP from using their online services entirely," he said.
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