Clock Counting Down on Windows XP Support

As Microsoft prepares to cut off support for Windows XP, hackers are sharpening their knives in anticipation of carving up the operating system's carcass.

Web predators will pounce on XP 10 minutes after Microsoft pulls the support plug on the software, predicted one former military computer specialist and network engineer.
Indeed, it appears that information highwaymen are stockpiling ammunition for a series of assaults on the operating system.

"There are a number of zero-day exploits against Windows XP that have been already discovered but neither reported, nor used in order to be exploited after the support period has ended," Bitdefender reported last week.
"These exploits could stay effective for years, causing damage to the user or company stuck with Windows XP," the report warns. "If, up until now, XP customers had a bad time with malware because they were unable to apply hotfixes [for] different reasons, the situation will become worse as, even if the customers wanted, they would not have any new hotfixes to apply after April 2014."