ATMs face deadline to upgrade from Windows XP

There are more than 400,000 ATMs dispensing cash in the United States, and most are poised to lose tech support from Microsoft in April.

According to reporting by Bloomberg Businessweek, on April 8, Microsoft’s stoppage of tech support for Windows XP means that ATMs using the software won’t be in compliance with industry standards or receive security patches. The 12-year-old Windows XP operating system is in more than 95 percent of ATMs worldwide.

Windows 7, an OS introduced in 2009, is the system that most machines will upgrade to, provided they are advanced enough to handle the increased demand in computing power. Most ATMs, according to the report, will have to be discarded and replaced, or continue to operate on the older OS, sans tech support. Currently, it is expected only 15 percent of ATMs will be on Windows 7 by the deadline.

Read more from Bloomberg Businessweek.