http://www.networkworld.com/news/2014/033114-xp-china-280233.html
By Tim Greene
Network World
March 31, 2014
Unsupported Windows XP machines in China could pose a threat to the
Internet in general if bot-herders round up significant numbers of them to
use as launch pads for malicious exploits, according to a top white-hat
hacker.
James Forshaw, a vulnerability researcher for Context Information
Security, says the vast number of XP computers in China represents the
potential staging ground for attacks if they become compromised.
"If we're talking tens of millions of machines that's a significant pool
to do DoS or other malicious attacks," says Forshaw, who is a $100,000
winner of Microsoft’s BlueHat bounty prize for finding and reporting
vulnerabilities in its Internet Explorer browser. "It might be in
everyone’s best interest to get China or other countries to help them to
migrate."
StatCounter, which tracks operating system use by country, says that in January
Windows XP represented 50.46% of the operating systems in use in China. That’s
down from 63% the year before, but still very significant. With China’s
population upward of 1.3 billion, that represents a lot of machines, Forshaw
says.
[...]
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