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Yes, it is very much atypical. Most hacks happen because admins still haven’t applied a 2 years old patch. I hate updates, but it‘s statistically safer that running an old software version. Try exposing a windows XP to the internet and watch how long it takes before it‘s hacked.




I don't know about Windows, but I've been running all kinds of outdated Linux (Debian mostly) and it never once caused a security problem.

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Debian backports security patches.

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Debatable. "I connected Windows XP to the Internet; it was fine" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40528117

One comment there points out that XP is old enough for infected attack vectors to have all died out. I dunno.

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I experienced this first hand in 2014. We got to a point where drive-by exploit kits just weren’t shipping IE8, Java 6 or Windows XP payloads anymore.

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Anyone else noticed that we don't even GET patch notes anymore?

"Fixed some bugs" Yes thank you very helpful that! Now I can make a very informed decision.

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https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/idle-windows-x...

But good we are talking about my point rather than than the example.

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> YouTuber Eric Parker demonstrated in a recent video how dangerous it is to connect classic Windows operating systems

The video referenced in that article explicitly connects directly to the internet, using a VPN to bypass any ISP and router protections and most importantly disables any protections WinXP itself has.

So yeah, if you really go out of your way to disable all security protections, you may have a problem.

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Like leaving the lid off of my typewriter at lunchtime :-o

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