Financial institutions using Windows XP or Windows 7 to run their ATMs should skip ahead to Windows 10 to avoid another end-of-support deadline, the ATM Industry Association said in a new position paper.
The announcement comes as financial institutions across the United States migrate their ATMs off Windows XP after Microsoft ended support for the operating system on April 8, 2014. That meant no more help for bugs that could leave ATMs vulnerable to hackers. Microsoft did say it will continue to supply its Malicious Software Removal Tool until July 14 of this year.
For ATMs, XP's successor is generally Windows 7, but support for that operating system officially ends in 2020 – creating another upgrade project, ATMIA noted.
"ATM hardware systems purchased today will still be in use in 2020, so questions of upgradeability and compatibility with the next big operating system have already arisen," ATMIA said. "ATMIA believes that the next major migration to an ATM operating system for those customers committed to the Windows-based ecosystem should be to Windows 10, skipping Windows 8 and 8.1."
The trade group, which is creating a Windows 10 migration roadmap, said Windows 10 will have periodic updates, like service packs, making it last longer. It recommended that financial institutions begin a "2020 migration" as soon as possible.
"It would be proactive to stipulate which ATM configurations are Windows 10 compatible," it added "There are considerable cost and logistical issues at stake."
System changes often involve in-person site visits to ATMs, but that may become a thing of the past. Enterprise software-platform technology is rapidly evolving to cloud-based solutions that run ATMs remotely. These "thin-client" devices use mobile- and tablet-based technology, and their applications reside in the cloud, making it possible for financial institutions to do some upgrades remotely.
Though some systems run on Linux or Android, ATMIA believes most ATMs will stick with Microsoft.
"It is widely recognized that there will be parallel trajectories in [the] future with a mainstream solution adopted by the majority of deployers, probably Windows 10 in our view," is said in its position paper.
"Bear in mind, it's not advisable for deployers to wait on the XP system for Windows 10, as there are security risks to being on an unsupported OS platform," ATMIA CEO Mike Lee advised.
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