Icon: enlarge
Windows 7 (archive image from 2009)
Photo: JOE RAEDLE / AFP
Eight years ago Microsoft announced that its Windows 7 operating system was being phased out.
On January 14, 2020, the company finally ended support for the Windows version.
In contrast to private users, companies and authorities can still obtain security updates for a fee.
The Hamburg police also make use of this service, as the Taxpayers Association now reports in its Black Book.
According to this, 8082 computers of the Hamburg police were still running with the outdated software on the reporting date, as well as a further 1041 computers in other authorities in the city.
Although the retrofitting began in 2016, it has not yet been completely successful.
An extended support contract was therefore necessary to ensure continued operation; around 526,000 euros were due for this.
Politicians, authorities and administration "slept for eight years," criticized the taxpayers' association.
Known problem
Hamburg is not alone with the problem.
The Berlin administration also bought time.
At the beginning of the year it was said by a spokesman for the Senate that around "75 to 80 percent" of the 82,000 computers had been converted to Windows 10.
There, too, the contract extension with Microsoft cost several hundred thousand euros.
There were similar reports back in 2014, when the end of Windows XP put pressure on authorities across Germany.
Even then, deferrals were granted for months in exchange for large sums of money.
Powerless against newly discovered weak points
According to data from the statcounter website, Windows 7 still accounts for around 13 percent of Microsoft operating systems in Germany.
While companies and authorities can at least still protect themselves, even if it gets expensive, private users who do not switch to Windows 10 or any other system always run a risk.
They would be powerless against newly discovered vulnerabilities in Windows 7.
Anti-virus software and firewalls would hardly help against deficiencies in the operating system, say IT security experts.
Icon: The mirror
amm