Cybersecurity

Windows XP Zombie Apocalypse May Come to China

Computer screens during a press conference displaying Microsoft's tablet computer and Windows 8 software, on Oct. 23, 2012 in Shanghai, China. Photographer: ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images

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By Mark Milian

April 9, 2014 at 1:20 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

More than a quarter of the world's PCs rely on Windows XP, according to research firm Net Applications. How is it that a 12-year-old operating system has hung on for this long as the second-most-used in the world? Blame China.

Today is the last day Microsoft will monitor new holes that spring up in XP and issue software updates to fix them. You may have heard how that could affect ATMs, 95 percent of which are estimated to still run XP — though cash machines aren't as vulnerable to hackers as that stat implies. The real digital disaster could go down in the largest Internet market on the globe, and the effects would likely be felt around the world.