Continuing to secure
your old versionsof Windowswith Kaspersky
How to protect
your legacy
endpoints

kaspersky.com

Continuing to secure your old versions of Windowswith Kaspersky
Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft, so users will no longer receive the manufacturer’s security
updates and patches. Add to this the fact that the full XP source code has recently been leaked to the generalpublic, making it available to any hacker looking for a new way into your system, and this respected OShas become a serious security liability. The problem has become even more acute as the vast majorityof cybersecurity vendors have discontinued their support for Windows XP in their corporate products.
Windows 7 is also no longer supported.

After 12 years, all support
for Windows XP ended
on April 8, 2014. Windows
7 was left without ANY
support (including paid
Extended SecurityUpdates) in January 2023.
Microsoft will no longer
provide security updates
or technical support for
the Windows XP and 7
operating systems. It’s
critical to migrate now to amodern OS.
According to Microsoft, thebest way to migrate from
Windows XP to the newestWindows version is buy anew device.

Kaspersky Endpoint Securityfor Business and old versionsof Windows – time to call it a day
Until 2020 we continued to support XP in our flagship Kaspersky Endpoint
Security for Business products, long after many security vendors ceased
doing so. But that’s no longer possible.
Unlike XP itself, the threat landscape keeps on evolving, and we’recommitted to delivering ever more advanced and powerful technologies
to protect all our customers against increasingly diverse and sophisticatedattack scenarios. No matter how lean and mean we make the newtechnologies (like our firmware scanner and Adaptive Anomaly Control,for example) that we incorporate into Kaspersky Endpoint Security for
Business, XP simply can’t accommodate them.

What’s the alternative?
XP’s days are numbered – we all know that. Alternative security options thatstill support XP now extremely are limited in terms of quality and capabilities –most are consumer orientated, and none can deliver the levels of protectionthat an unsupported operating system, in particular, desperately needs. Plus,
these products are themselves unlikely to remain supported for long – thesecurity market for systems running old Windows OS is fading fast.

Upgrade your systems
How many PCs are stillrunning XP?
As of November 2023:
According to recent
calculations there are morethan 1,6 billion PCs running
Windows worldwide.
According to StatCounter Windows claims around
70% of the Windows
market, while Windows XP
still holds 0.33%. This means
the number of XP-based
PCs still out there is ~4,8million.

This could be the wake-up call your organization needs to start investing
in up-to-date hardware and software, rather than continuing to copewith the ever-increasing risks and inefficiencies endemic to running anunsupported system. Now’s the time to make serious plans about where
you go next, and how and when to upgrade.
While you continue to run an obsolete OS, your protection is compromised.
You no longer have the lifeline of support and updates from Microsoft,and your current OS is preventing you from benefiting from all the latest
developments in products like Version 12 of Kaspersky Endpoint Security
for Business.

But what about right now?
Moving to a new operating system takes time, and we don’t want to leave
you unprotected in the interim.
Fortunately, we have another endpoint security product which supports
old Windows OSs, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Kaspersky Embedded SystemsSecurity
Kaspersky Embedded Systems Security will fully protect and support you
until you’re ready to upgrade to a Windows OS capable of accommodating
the latest anti-threat technologies offered in Kaspersky Endpoint Securityfor Business Version 12.
Kaspersky Embedded Systems Security offers all the reliable protection ofa multi-layered security solution based on our award-winning anti-malware
engine – plus the benefits of centralized management via the familiar
Kaspersky Security Center. And, being specifically designed to support
a broad range of Windows operating systems, starting from Windows XP
SP2, it makes low demands on hardware resources.
The solution delivers rugged, straightforward security for thoseorganizations where moving away from XP may take time, or just isn’t
an option. It’s used in downtime-sensitive environments, in automatedsystems, in cases where machine operations are low-powered but vitally
important, and wherever rugged multi-layered security is essential,
regardless of OS limitations.

Features comparison
The table below shows what’s included in Kaspersky Embedded Systems
Security, in your current version of Kaspersky Endpoint Security for
Business (Version 10), and in the latest Version 12. So you can see exactly
what moving to Kaspersky Embedded Systems Security would mean foryou, and how little would actually change. Kaspersky Embedded Systems
Security provides the crucial security layers you’re already used to in
Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, managed from our familiar
central console.

FeatureKESS for Windows 3.3

KES for Windows 12.x(workstation)

Benefits

Compatibility & Support
Support for old OSs, startingfrom Windows XP+-

Allows the secure use of older
endpoints where upgrade is
problematic or impossible.

Legacy hardware/low systemspecs support+-

Allows the provision of security
even for underpowered systems.

Threat Protection
File threat protection+

Mail threat protection-Web threat protection+/(malware & exploits only)

Network threat protection+++++

Protects the system against filebased malware.
Protects the system against emailborne malware.
Protects the system against webbased threats.
Protects the system against
network-based attacks.

Precise, signature-based
threat detection(pre-execution)++

A core capability of any EPP
solution, allowing the precise
detection of malware specimens without false positives.

Heuristics and on-premises
machine-learning models(pre- and peri-execution)++

Allows the detection of as-yetunknown threats via the complex
analysis of indirect static indicators.

+

Enables the detection of complex,
heavily obfuscated/encryptedmalware via pseudo-execution in asafe simulated environment.

Emulative sandboxing+

KESS for Windows 3.3

KES for Windows 12.x
(workstation)

Benefits

Behavior detection-+

Offers the behavior-based
detection of sophisticated, as-yetunknown malware.

Exploit prevention++

Protects against
the exploitation of vulnerabilities inimportant applications.

+

Restricts unnecessary, untrusted
and dangerous network
connections between the systemand external peers.

+

Offers extra capabilities forthe detection of sophisticatedthreats and the means for an
infrastructure-wide automatedresponse.

+

Provides the most recent
threat data instantly, directlyfrom Kaspersky’s cloud threatprocessing infrastructure.

FeatureFirewallIntegration with advanced
detection and response (EDR,advanced sandbox, etc.)+(Windows firewall management)-

Integration with KSN/KPSN+

Firmware scanner-+

Conducts dedicated checks on
the system’s firmware, to detectspecialized malware hidden in, forexample, UEFI flash memory.

Anti-Cryptor for network
shares-+Prevents remotely initiated malintentioned encryption.

System Hardening(attack surface reduction)
Lean protective configuration
based on Default Deny+-

Enables a very lean configuration
for low-spec systems – using only
system hardening controls in a tightDefault Deny mode and disabling
more resource-hungry security
layers.

Self defense++

Guards against protection being
compromised through interferencewith application components.

Unsanctioned configurations
change protection+-Guards against protection being
compromised through interferencewith application configuration.

Application control++Regulates the launching ofapplications, and blocks unsolicited
launches, including those of filebased malware.

Device control++Prevents the use of unsolicitedexternal devices, reducing risk ofinfection and data leaks.

+

Regulates the use of web resources
and their categories, helping toreduce the probability of infection,
successful phishing attacks andthe resultant loss of data andcredentials.

+

Analyzes apps’ usage scenariosand detects abnormal behavior,helping to discover sophisticatedinfections.

+

Prevents specific attack scenarios
though reducing the scope of
permitted activitiesin apps lacking
a sufficient trust level.

Web control

Adaptive Anomaly Control

HIPS (host-based intrusionprevention)

Vulnerability and patch
management---+(additional license)+(Advanced and Total or additionallicense)

Allows keeping track of thepresence of vulnerabilities incorporate endpoint systems andhelps close them through timely,automated updates.

Feature

KESS for Windows 3.3

KES for Windows 12.x
(workstation)

Benefits

System integrity control
File Integrity Monitor

Log inspection

Registry Access Monitor+-Detects unsolicited systemchanges, including those
conducted during a power-off, thus
helping to discover any intrusion.

+-Enables the detection of illicit
activities in a system, by monitoringchanges in system logs.

-Monitors attempts of unauthorized
meddling with System Registry andblocks them to prevent malicious
effects(compliance edition)(compliance edition)+(compliance edition)

Monitoring & Management
Centralized on-premises
management (using Kaspersky
Security Center)

KSC web-based console+++

Enables the centralized
management of multiple Kaspersky
products, offering a unified security
ecosystem.

+

Offers simplified management andsystems deployment and promotes
resource economy, through noagent being installed to access themanagement system.

Kaspersky Security Center
cloud console++

Offers simplified deployment andresource economy, as no need toinstall and maintain a dedicatedmanagement server.

Command-line management++Offers additional convenience foradministrators and enables lean,
GUI-less scenarios.

SIEM integration++

Enriches your unified security
picture with endpoint-level events.

Industrial environments
If you’re currently running
XP in an industrial
process control/SCADA
environment, we strongly
recommended considering
Kaspersky Industrial
CyberSecurity for Nodes
for protection. This solution
also offers ongoing longterm legacy OS support –and at the same time isdesigned to be SCADAcompatible, which brings
significant benefits.

Cyber Threats News: securelist.com
Threat Intelligence Portal: opentip.kaspersky.comIT Security for Enterprise: www.kaspersky.com/enterprise
Kaspersky TechnoWiki: www.kaspersky.com/technowiki

www.kaspersky.com© 2023 AO Kaspersky Lab.
Registered trademarks and service marks
are the property of their respective owners.

Upgrade now!
Upgrade your XP OS as soon as you can. Start planning right now,and explain to the Board that moving to an up-to-date system running afully supported OS is an absolute fiscal priority if you’re to ensure business
continuity, efficiency and security from an IT perspective. And, while
they’re deciding, Kaspersky Embedded Systems Security will keep your old
endpoints safe.
To find out how to secure your XP infrastructure with Kaspersky
Embedded Systems Security, please get in touch.