1. Windows XP and HIPAA Security
Windows XP: Old Platforms Die Hard, Security Risks Live On
There will be no updates or patches of Windows XP beyond April 8th
,1
2014.
This leaves consumers vulnerable to security & compliance issues: those
who don’t migrate in time will be exposed to an increased amount of
hacking threats, as Windows XP is a 12-year old OS and without Microsoft
patches XP will become extremely vulnerable. New Intel Chipsets will no
longer support XP, which makes hardware updates in a facility difficult.
According to the data of a cyber-security firm Qualys Inc., even despite the
public deadline more than 10% of computers used in government and
corporations worldwide will still use the 12-year-old operating system.
Microsoft has been warning its customers of the coming change for years.
As the deadline approaches, the U.S. government has been urging IT
administrators at utility companies and other institutions to upgrade.
1
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Inc.

2. HIPAA Security Rule
HIPAA security rule requests, among other things, to:
“Implement technical policies and procedures for electronic information
systems that maintain electronic protected health information to allow
access only to those persons or software programs that have been granted
access rights as specified in § 164.308(a)(4) [Information Access
Management].”
“Manage Security Awareness and Training described in § 164.308(a)(5) for
Protection from Malicious Software”
With XP being no longer updated, users who will still use XP seem to be in
conflict with the HIPAA security rule. As workstations are in nearly all
cases connected to a network, this would mean that even one machine in
a network that runs XP will make the entire network vulnerable and not
HIPAA compliant.