Articles about Windows Server 2003

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting unpatched server vulnerabilities to infect machines with cryptomining malware, according to a new report.

The study from Check Point Software Technologies sees cryptomining malware dominate Check Point’s Top Ten Most Wanted Malware Index, the Coinhive variant retains the top spot with a global reach of 16 percent. Cryptoloot -- another crypto-mining malware -- is close behind with a global reach of 14 percent, while the Roughted malvertising malware came in third (11 percent).

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It seems that the constant expert warnings that legacy software should be avoided aren’t really resonating with businesses across the world. According to a new report by Spiceworks, more than half (53 percent) of companies all over the world have at least one instance of Windows Server 2003.

That wouldn’t be much of an issue if the operating system’s EOL (end of life) date wasn’t a year ago (July 14, 2015). After that date, Microsoft has officially ceased supporting the product, stopped releasing patches and new updates, which means that companies still using Windows Server 2003 are actually putting themselves at a lot of cyber risk.

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One constant in the technology industry is that technology continues to evolve at a rate that many find it difficult to keep up with. Microsoft, for example, is currently busy promoting the launch of its latest desktop operating system (OS) -- Windows 10 -- that will be available from July 29 in 190 markets around the world. The company’s expectations are high, with it professing a goal of putting Windows 10 on a billion devices within two to three years.

As with its desktop OS, Microsoft’s Server solutions are also at a turning point, with countless businesses around the world facing up to the stark reality that as one server version comes into being; support for another one will drop by the wayside; now it’s the turn of Windows Server 2003. But managing any migration is not for the faint hearted.

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It’s been a long time coming, but on July 14 this year the support for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 will end.

This may well prove to be a challenge for some IT professionals, but it certainly doesn’t have to be a problem. Here, Rory Higgins, product manager at Eaton, outlines nine points to help IT professionals prepare for life beyond Windows Server 2003 and even to discover that this unavoidable change is actually an opportunity.

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In a tribute to Windows Server 2003, which reaches its end of life on July 14, disaster recovery provider Databarracks, together with the University of Surrey’s Electronics and Amateur Radio Society, launched a Windows 2003 disk into space.

Based on mass and the weather conditions on the day, the team predicts the balloon carrying the disk reached an altitude of 100,000 feet -- compared to the altitude of 30,000 to 40,000 feet for most commercial aircrafts -- before bursting and traveling back down to Earth.

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A large number of organizations are continuing to use Windows Server 2003, despite Microsoft announcing that support for the operating system will cease in less than a month.

According to a recent study by Softchoice, 21 percent of servers were still operating the OS in the first half of 2015, a fall of 11 percent compared with the same period twelve months ago.

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Two thirds of UK companies will continue running Windows Server 2003, after Microsoft cuts the support for the service on 14 July, a recent report has shown.

The continued use of a program with no developer support leaves the user open to many risks, it says in the report called Windows Server 2003 (WS2K3) End-of-Life Survey, conducted by endpoint security specialist Bit9 + Carbon Black.

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We aren't too far removed from the death of Windows XP -- sure you can still use it, but you do so at your own peril as the operating system is no longer supported by Microsoft (businesses can pay for extended support -- protection money, if you will). That hasn't stopped many individuals, and indeed even businesses, from continuing to run the OS despite potential for disaster. Granted, that may not be huge, but it is still a very real concern.

Now Windows Server 2003 faces a similar fate, with an impending date of July 14th, 2015 slated to bring an end to another staple of the enterprise. Like Windows XP, customers will not be happy -- enterprises move slowly and upgrades can be costly, not to mention proprietary software that may not work once the move is complete.

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Most of us have hopefully managed to get off the sinking ship that was Windows XP. As much of a recent memory as that has become, a new end of life is rearing its head, and it's approaching fervently for those who haven't started planning for it. Microsoft's Windows Server 2003, a solid server operating system that's now about eleven and a half years old, is heading for complete extinction in just under 300 days. Microsoft has a fashionable countdown timer already ticking.

Seeing as we just finished our second server migration in a single week (a personal record so far), sharing some of the finer aspects of how we are streamlining these transitions seems like a timely fit. This braindump of sorts is a collection of best practices that we are routinely following for our own customers, and they seem to be serving us well so far.

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One of my favorite idioms is "Change is Constant". No group has had to embrace that motto more than IT Operations, especially in recent years. As if the daily changes weren’t enough, we all have one more big item to deal with, the End-of-Life for Windows Server 2003.

The official End-of-Life date for Windows Server 2003 is July 14, 2015 (that’s Bastille Day for you history buffs). For IT Operations teams large and small, the date looms like a doomsday clock. Why does this particular platform end-of-life and pending migration seem so ominous? The answer, in a single word, is "Applications!"

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