[in]Security and XP Mode

One of the biggest problems to plague Windows Vista was its incompatibility with older software that ran perfectly under Windows XP.  With Windows 7 Microsoft have greatly increased the compatibility of older software but there will still be problems, especially with bespoke applications used in business.  This is where XP Mode comes in.

XP Mode, currently in beta, adds a fully licensed copy of Windows XP Professional that runs in a virtual machine on your desktop.  The clear difference between XP Mode though and Microsoft Virtual PC on which it is based, is that any applications installed in it, not only show up in their own windows on your Windows 7 desktop, but that they also show up in your Windows 7 Start Menu.

So far, everything’s great.  What could possibly go wrong here you ask?  Sadly, there is something and it’s a biggie.

XP Mode doesn’t, sadly, inherit security from its host operating system, Windows 7.  This means that it can’t take advantage of any anti-virus software you have installed.  You will need to install separate anti-virus software in the virtual machine.

Sophos’ chief technology officer Richard Jacobs recently said that “It doesn’t share security settings, security software, patches, and so on.  It doesn’t inherit any security from the host.  When you use XP Mode, you need to patch the copy of XP as well as the host Windows 7.”

Microsoft’s answer to this would no doubt be that XP mode is intended for running specific ‘bespoke’ applications and legacy software, and not intended for going online and general usage, you have Windows 7 for that.  However what they forget is that much of the legacy software out there is inherently insecure itself, prone to attack from external sources.

Much of that software does go online to perform A, B or C and it’s doing so completely unprotected.  You might think, as Microsoft do, that this isn’t much of a problem, but it’s a big problem.  Any virus attack can sit within the virtual machine, undetected by your anti-virus software, but potentially with access to your files and data.

Many corporations and businesses may be put off from moving to Windows 7 by this, because of the security issue and the thought of, effectively, maintaining two PCs for every one.  These companies are Microsoft’s bread and butter and if something doesn’t change while XP Mode is still in beta, the repercussions of assumption on the part of XP Mode users could be enormous.