Microsoft ends Windows XP support, hackers may be lurking

Microsoft Corp released its final security updates for Windows XP and Office 2003 on Tuesday as security experts warned users that they could soon be prime targets for cyber attacks if they do not abandon the products. Security experts advise consumers and businesses to either replace computers running Windows XP or upgrade to modern versions of Microsoft’s software within the next month because they will no longer be protected from newly discovered threats after the middle of May. Microsoft automatically rolls out new security updates on the second Tuesday of each month, which is known as “Patch Tuesday,” a day when they also publish technical details on the security bugs they are fixing. Security experts say they believe hackers will study that data and “reverse engineer” the May Patch Tuesday software updates to identify ways to attack computers running Windows XP, along with Office 2003, which will no longer receive patches from Microsoft.

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