A report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released shows that the State Department of this country is still using the outdated Windows XP operating system.
According to Metro Americas, the US State Department was recently criticized for still using the Windows XP operating system on some of its computers. This is surprising because Windows XP has been outdated for more than a decade and has not received an official update since 2014
The GAO report revealed that the US State Department has “23,689 hardware systems and 3,102 network and server operating system software installations that have reached the end of their lifespan”. This raises cybersecurity concerns, as operating systems could be vulnerable to attacks. outdated and unsupported
It’s worth noting that the report also states the department’s cybersecurity program “meets federal requirements.” That information seems contradictory because using an outdated operating system like Windows XP poses unnecessary risks to information security.
The question is why the US Department of State has not updated its operating system to a newer version, such as Windows 7 or Windows 10. With a budget of up to 73.77 billion USD by 2023, it is really true. It’s strange that this update hasn’t been done yet.
The GAO report is expected to prompt the US State Department to take action and update its outdated operating systems. Cybersecurity is a fundamental concern in today’s digital age and it is important that all organizations, including governments, are at the forefront of best practices in this area
