Hackers After ‘Legacy Software’

First, we will see what is ‘Legacy Software’

Legacy Software is an old method, Technology, Computer System, or an application program of Relating to or being a previous or outdated computer system which is still in use. For example, Windows XP, This software was off – supported since April 2014, but it is still used in ATMs and many other electronic gadgets. This is a famous example of legacy software. Legacy word was first used in the 1970s, and by 1980s, it was commonly used to refer to existing computer systems to distinguish them from the design and implementation of new systems.

Legacy terms may indicate to some engineers as an outdated system which cannot be used; a Legacy system can continue to be used for a variety of reasons. Even if this type of software is no longer in use, a Legacy system may continue to impact the organizations due to its historical role. The historical data included in legacy will be again used in future developed software but with more new information and to crack that software will not be easier than cracking a legacy system which contains low-security level.

The legacy system also cannot be removed, there are various reasons to keep legacy system, Which are,

• The system of legacy works very easily, and it is very Satisfactory to use, and the owner of that software has no reason to remove it.
• The cost of redesigning or replacing legacy systems are prohibitive because they are too Large, Monolithic and Complicated.
• To retrain a new system would be very costly in lost time and money, but to replace it will cost no money and the time will also not be wasted.
• The system near-constant availability, so it cannot be taken out of service, and the cost of designing a new system with a similar availability level is high. For example, the system to handle customers account in a bank, computer reservations systems, air traffic control, energy distribution, nuclear power plant, military defence installations are run by the help of software which might turn legacy afterwards and removing that will destroy all the things which are using that software and making a new system to run the similar systems is not an easy task it will cost both time and money.

Hackers are after Legacy Software,

As we have seen above, what is Legacy software, Now we will see why hackers are behind legacy software’s and what’s their mindset about legacy software.

As we know, Legacy Software is an old method, Technology, Computer System, or an application program of Relating to or being a previous or outdated computer system which is still in use. This is a simple definition of legacy software. Legacy software contains Lack of information, but they are lack in security. The security system of legacy software is weak compared to the latest software, which is new in the market and only because of this point, hackers are after legacy software. The hackers know that The security level of legacy systems is weak and it will be easy to take away all the information of the systems which are still using this software and they will also not easily get caught. This is only a plus point for hackers, and they will not let it go very easily.

Reasons to worry about legacy system hack,

The hacking of legacy systems is not a new topic, But it has become a hot topic nowadays. The legacy system was hacked in the 1990s It affected Microsoft Excel, which was outdated and a few days before.  The things to worry about legacy system hack are may, but main and very worst things which will lead after the hack are,

• The hacker can steal your all Personal information and credit details, and he can sell them to other people who might use your information for illegal work.
• In a major mishap, Source code for windows XP and windows servers 2003 was leaked on various online platforms. This collection furthermore included the source code for Windows XP SP1, Windows server 2003, MS-DOS, Windows CE, Windows NT and Windows 7.
• In the worst cases, The legacy system hack can lead to cyber attacks similar to those experienced in 2017 due to wanncry Ransomware.

To fix these problems, companies are giving more cybersecurity to this software and developing a security system which will be developed soon.