Hold on to Your Bitcoins. Why April 8 2014 Might be a Defining Moment in Bitcoin

[pdawg]

Windows XP support from MS ends.  Soooo.....  you ask?

"Well April 8 is the last date Microsoft will publish the latest round of security fixes for Windows XP known in the IT departments as the monthly “Patch Tuesday”. The first reported vulnerability after that date means the computer is unsecured and no longer compliant with the laws established by the PCI organization that grants authority to use the credit card payment networks......"

"As such, they may be barred from being allowed on the payment network. This includes ATM machines, which the organization estimates to be over 420,000 in the US alone and 95% of them are estimated to be running various versions of Windows XP underneath. This could spell the end for many merchants and ATM machines throughout the world that rely on credit cards or the payment networks under the control of the PCI organization."

Full read here:  http://bitcoinmagazine.com/11337/hold-bitcoins-april-8-2014-might-defining-moment-bitcoin-history/

[alumar]

Sounds like another Y2K much?

[pdawg]

This is why I love this site 

[AltCoin555]

It's funny how this didn't make any news, but on Friday March 21st just after noon EST, a Microsoft update got pushed and crapped out a lot of the payment processors around the globe. This affected big names like Authorize.net and PayPal. Engineers fixed the issue in 20 minutes or so, but for a moment a lot of transactions could not be processed.

That issue had nothing really to do with PCI compliance, however when April 8th arrives, there will be nothing immediately disastrous. Just because a bunch of computers are no longer PCI compliant does not mean they will no longer be functional. It just means their security approval rating is under the minimum required by law. More-so, you will see large fines imposed on businesses that continue to use outdated and unsupported software, and even this will not happen for some time.

Finally, the systems that handle large-volume transactions through payment processors are most definitely not using Windows XP. This will likely hurt smaller companies and such that run their POS system through a Windows XP system. Something equivalent to banning cars pre-1999 without the proper upgrades from being able to drive on the road, this will affect low-income citizens among a nation.

[Beliathon]

Sounds like another Y2K much?

I love when the first reply hits the nail on the head. Well done sir or madam.

[notbatman]

Sounds like another Y2K much?

+1

[dodododi]

I have never seen anyone kick out of anything for PCI compliance issues.

[mechew]

This doesn't mean anything more than fee's and bank profits will go down unless this was budgeted.

Just because support is discontinued doesn't mean you can't pay Microsoft to support you which these banks will have no choice which is likely something most banks have been planning since being PCI compliant is a requirement.

I would say this would only help btc if banks elected to suddenly use new atm's that include bitcoin options.

[greenlion]

There is no such thing as compliance in rigged markets with fiscally powerful actors.

[Crindon]

Don't nobody do anything, I gotta go get my popcorn. Anyone want anything while I'm up?

[mysidia]

"As such, they may be barred from being allowed on the payment network. This includes ATM machines, ....

No.  ATM machines run Windows XP Embedded.
Support for Windows XP Embedded continues through January 12, 2016.

Some Enterprises with custom support contracts _may_ continue to receive certain security updates for XP, for the remainder of their custom support contract.

It's home users and small businesses still running XP that are screwed / in a rock in a hard place  (Upgrade now / get a new computer  [perhaps a Mac], switch to Linux, or be vulnerable).

[seanneko]

I really don't see this as being big news. About a year ago I saw a Commonwealth Bank (one of the biggest banks in Australia) ATM which was in an endless reboot cycle - it kept blue screening when it reached the desktop.

It was running Windows 2000. This is infinitely worse than XP will be come April.