Secure Windows 7, RHEL 7, and Other End-of-Life (EOL), Unsupported Software Systems
{We explore the issue of unaddressed end of life (EOL) software security vulnerabilities and the compliance requirements that govern EOL systems and components. The article also offers a solution for protecting EOL operating systems (OSs) ranging across RHEL 5, Ubuntu 16, Windows XP, 2003 and 7, CentOS 7, Solaris 11, and others.}
The Need for End of Life (EOL) Software Security
Pressure remains steady for federal agencies and organizations to modernize their software as a way to mitigate vulnerabilities in old, unsupported code. This pressure comes in regulations and frameworks such as FISMA, CISA, NIST, Executive Orders, and the HSGAC Legacy IT Reduction Act. It also comes through industry and partner standards and peer pressure, and, last, through a healthy fear of getting hacked. However, software modernization—that is, moving off a system that is several years or more old—isn’t always easy or possible.
The challenge lies in a mix of software end of life (EOL) and end of support issues, budgetary constraints, and logistical challenges. In other cases, the system is so important the user organization or agency can’t take it offline or risk disruption through software or equipment migration. Finally, the legacy system or programming language might simply be practical and doing its job, which occurs frequently in small and midsize organizations. Maintenance vs. migration can boil down to cost-based analysis leaning toward staying the course, outweighing public pressure to modernize software systems.
Understandable, but a big caveat: If you continue to use legacy or EOL systems, you must extend additional diagnostics and protection of the code you are using. Cyberattack damages and risk are significant enough across federal, financial, healthcare, and ecommerce to merit enhanced and modernized security for no-longer upgraded systems. These legacy software endpoints are easy to overlook and difficult to isolate, monitor, patch, and protect, making them easy targets for hackers, criminals, nation state actors, and advanced persistent threats.
If you can’t drop everything to modernize software, you can orchestrate easy and modern anti-malware, intrusion detection, file integrity monitoring (FIM), active response, and compliance checks.
Address EOL Software Security and Compliance Concerns
Atomic OSSEC is a detection, response and compliance solution that organizations and agencies use to protect their server endpoints, desktops, cloud APIs, and cloud workflows. Although Atomic OSSEC protects modern versions of Windows, Linux, mac, and AIX, and all major cloud platforms, the solution is versatile enough to draw SIEM data from no-longer supported OSs such as Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows 7, RHEL 5, 6, and 7, CentOS 5, 6, and 7, HP-UX 11i, and Solaris 11.
Visit the Atomicorp EOL system security page to learn more.
Get an Atomic OSSEC demonstration.
Windows 7, Windows 2003, and Windows XP EOL Security
Our extended detection and response (XDR) system, Atomic OSSEC, secures Windows environments with comprehensive endpoint and cloud workload protection going all the way back to Windows 7, Windows 2003, and Windows XP. This protection includes AV, antimalware, log-based IDS, FIM, active response such as endpoint isolation and malware removal, AU controls, and compliance scans. (For more current OSs, such as Windows 10 and 11, Atomic OSSEC can provide real-time FIM, aka continuous monitoring and real time detection, as well as CVE scanning and vulnerability management.)
Protection for Linux EOL including Red Hat and Ubuntu
Red Hat EOL
Our XDR system provides log-based IDS, FIM, CVE scanning, active response and crypto for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL 5 through RHEL 7), while enabling users of these systems to meet compliance requirements.
Ubuntu EOL
Atomic OSSEC supports Ubuntu EOL OSs such as Ubuntu 16 and 18. Atomic OSSEC detects and protects with endpoint and cloud workload protection including IDS, FIM, vulnerability detection and management, active response, AU controls, encryption, and security controls for compliance.
CentOS 5, 6 and 7, HP-UX 11i, IoT EOL, macOS EOL Security Support
CentOS EOL
The security support for Centos 5, 6, and 7 features AV, anti-malware, FIM, active response, AU controls, encryption, compliance, and more.
HP-UX 11i
Be able to orchestrate AV, anti-malware, FIM, active response, and crypto across your HP-UX 11i systems—and achieve compliance.
Solaris 11
Atomic OSSEC provides security support for Unix systems such as Solaris 11, including AV, malware detection, FIM, active response, AU controls, encryption, and meeting compliance requirements.
IoT EOL
Atomic OSSEC also secures and brings regulatory compliance for Internet of Things (IoT) Linux environments. This support ranges from AV, anti-malware, FIM, and AU, to encryption and active response.
macOS EOL
We offer macOS EOL (Intel CPU versions) system security as well. Atomic OSSEC protects these systems with endpoint security, including cloud workload protection, AV, FIM, active response, AU controls, AES crypto, and compliance.
AIX, too
Bolster security on venerable AIX systems. Atomic OSSEC provides a log-based intrusion detection system (IDS), FIM, anti-malware, AES encryption, active response, compliance controls, and more, going back to AIX v.7.1.
Visit our legacy and EOL system security page.
Protect and meet compliance controls across modern software platforms and EOL OS software.
Get a demonstration of the Atomic OSSEC XDR.