What happens if you connect Windows XP to the Internet in 2024?
Wow I did not know you can get malware like viruses, spyware and adware and such not even opening up your browser and surfing the internet.
Didn’t look at the video, but as a related story: During the XP era I happened to spend some time at a federal laboratory, and given its attractive .gov domain it was under constant bombardment from hacking attempts. It was a well-established (and, sadly, repeatedly experimentally verified) fact that plugging a brand new Windows laptop into an Ethernet port would instantly compromise the laptop, sometimes bricking it entirely. One had to first install the full back-catalog of critical Windows updates in a protected environment, and only then could you safely plug into the more general network.
Windows XP hasn’t had a security upgrade in years, which means any security exploits that have been discovered since then are easily exploitable.
However, as this video shows, you CAN connect an older Windows machine safely if you use basic precautions, as opposed to connecting the machine directly to the internet as the OP’s video did.
Because most machines have a boatload of “services” running that the user doesn’t see (or NEED to see). Any service that exposes a network port can be targeted. Over time, you can catalog the types of exploits to which a particular vintage machine is (likely) vulnerable. Then, just try each of them.
It is also possible to “fingerprint” an operating system by noticing how it reacts to such actions in much the same way that one can “identify” a particular USER based on how his browser is configured! I.e., if I visit a site and my other half visits the same site at some other time, the site could see that it is a different user at the same physical computer.
There are things you can do to reduce your risk/exposure. E.g., I don’t run any AV products, here, yet have no fear of being remotely hacked – despite having 72 network hosts in the office (bedroom). Simple: don’t let them talk to the outside world, directly.
(Why throw away resources to TRY to detect malware if you can eliminate the path that it needs to “get in” and “talk back”)
THIS computer, OTOH, is equally vulnerable but hides behind NAT and holds nothign of value. I can restore the machine to its original confriguration in 6 minutes (and have yet had a need to do so!)
But I think most people want their computer hook up to the internet than being offline.
Computers are cheap, nowadays. Keep your primary machine offline and use your “previous” machine (or laptop) for surfing the web and email (assuming you don’t use your phone for those functions – I like LOTS of display real estate so a phone is really only useful for making calls!)
We keep a laptop that is used JUST for ecommerce/banking. No email, no general purpose web surfing, etc.
Two friends have been hacked, recently. We know this by the emails we have received, allegedly from them. So, even if we were not diligent about opening attachments, nothing on this machine would have been compromised – other than our browser history, etc.