Industrial vulnerability that comes together with the Windows XP updates halt was considered a threat long before the actual stopping of the free patches flow. Back at the beginning of March, the Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control System Computer Emergency Readiness Team warned that due to the Windows XP Updates Halt, the
computer systems running unsupported software are exposed to an elevated risk to cyber-security dangers, such as malicious attacks or electronic data loss
However, on the other side of the fence, there are those who are not panicking at all and who consider this alleged threat as being blown out of proportion, but that is because nobody actually patched their Windows XP working networks in the past either, therefore there is no bigger threat now as it was before. Adam Crain, a security-focused ICS developer says that
I don’t think XP’s demise changes our risk, because we already had a high level of risk because of the patching situation. We aren’t seeing a lot of attacks yet mainly because there isn’t a financial motivation for that yet. I don’t see it significantly elevating the risk because of all the other things we’re not doing.
However, the problem persists and all industrial companies working on Windows XP, no matter how large or small, need to find solutions in protecting the systems, even of such measures imply a lot of money and time to spend.