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Windows XP unsafe for online banking

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Warning: if you still use Windows XP, you face a growing risk of becoming a victim of online criminals. Microsoft, the supplier of Windows XP, stopped supporting and maintaining the operating system on 8 April 2014. As a result, Microsoft no longer releases improvements or updates and patches for Windows XP, and new security vulnerabilities will not be fixed.

Microsoft and Dutch banks advise Windows XP users to switch to a newer, more secure operating system as soon as possible. Online criminals are expected to exploit the end of Microsoft’s support for Windows XP. You may receive emails supposedly from Microsoft or your bank asking you to click a link that claims to improve or secure Windows XP. Do not respond, do not click these links and do not open attachments in these emails.

Microsoft and your bank do not send their customers emails about Windows XP. Links and attachments in such messages are inherently untrustworthy. The emails do not come from Microsoft or your bank; they are fraudulent. If you receive one, delete it immediately. Online criminals can use fraudulent emails to access your Windows XP computer, intercept confidential access codes and covertly submit payment instructions from your bank account.

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