Why Legacy Systems Are a Goldmine For Hackers

I was recently talking with a business owner about their IT/cybersecurity efforts and they mentioned the majority of their workflows are managed by systems that haven’t been upgraded in quite some time. His primary reason was why change them when those same systems haven’t caused any problems and things have been working smoothly. Plus, it can be very time consuming. On the surface, he has a valid point. If the systems your business relies on have served you well and things operate as they should, there shouldn’t be a need to make many changes. And it can be difficult to perform upgrades or even introduce new systems in an already existing infrastructure. The only problem with this is that both systems and software have an EOL or end of life. An EOL is a date when hardware or software will no longer be patched by the vendor to reduce security risks. Hackers know this very well.

Unpatched software is the easiest way for someone to gain unauthorized access into a system because of the lack of security measures in place. Hackers can exploit those holes and perform any malicious activity they see fit. Oftentimes, this is how SMBs are breached and eventually compromised. SMBs have a tendency to believe that relying on legacy systems is viable for their IT operations because of the simplicity. The only problem is hackers know this too and understand legacy systems are easier targets. Without a proper update/upgrade plan in place, it is only a matter of time until someone is able to access all of your data. Sure, it may be tedious and expensive to update your current architecture but investing in security now is a better option than having to pay a 7-8 figure ransom down the line.