Tuesday July 14th marked the end of an era. At a time when security breaches and network outages are flooding the headlines, Microsoft has ended support for Windows Server 2003 – including critical security updates.
It has been reported that more than two thirds of businesses were not going to make the upgrade deadline, which leaves their networks, servers, and possibly their entire IT infrastructures susceptible to bugs, cyber criminals, compliance issues, and more. In 2013, Microsoft issued 37 “critical” updates to Windows Server 2003, and another 21 in 2014, suggesting it is still extremely vulnerable to bugs that have not yet been exposed.
Microsoft made the end of Windows 2003 very public, but losing support and security was not enough to drive companies to upgrade their infrastructure or move them to the cloud.
In a recent interview with the Register, CTO Ed Shipley explained the costs of not upgrading are innumerable. “The cost of being ‘left behind’ because third party application vendors won’t provide patches and upgrades that work on WS 2003 will be difficult to quantify… but I imagine should an application fail and shut down a business process, the cost will be very real and easily quantifiable,” said Shipley.
The reality of it all is, if your company is still functioning on Windows Server 2003 then you could be facing some very real risks to your data, vulnerability to malware, and compliance issues. If you haven’t made the move yet, you can still take this opportunity to upgrade your IT strategy, and ARG can help any business upgrade and move to the cloud, quickly.
Time is up, and you need your business protected. Contact ARG ASAP to learn more about your move to the cloud at info@myarg.com.
