The Reserve Bank of India has set an ultimatum for banks in the country to get rid of Windows XP on their ATMs by 2019. To be honest, it is a miracle that ATMs are still sticking to XP after it was discontinued back in 2014.
The security loopholes and vulnerabilities on Windows XP make it a very easy target for hackers and therefore RBI has stepped in to take action.
In a notice issued to banks nationwide, the central governing body said that Windows XP “and other unsupported operating systems” have been a concern since the last one year.
“The slow progress on the part of the banks in addressing these issues has been viewed seriously by the RBI,” said the notice. It also added the fact that "the vulnerability arising from the banks’ ATMs operating on an unsupported version of operating system and non-implementation of other security measures, could potentially affect the interests of the banks’ customers adversely".
All banks have been instructed to file their compliance plans by the end of July. A timetable was given out by the RBI which stated the time period in which a particular amount of depreciation of Windows XP must be achieved. The timetable stated that banks must reach 25 percent deprecation by September 2018, 50 percent by December 2018 and 75 percent by March 2019.