Older versions of Internet Explorer expire January 12

What's going on?

Microsoft announced this week that it will be ending its support for older versions of Internet Explorer (IE) on January 12, 2016. What does end of support mean? It means that starting on Tuesday, January 12 (Patch Tuesday), Microsoft will only provide technical support and security updates for the most current version of Internet Explorer available for a "supported" operating system.

The most recent version of IE is version 11, and almost every Windows system should be running that version. There are a few exceptions to this, such as some specialized or older versions of the Windows operating system, like Windows Server or Windows Embedded, which may be used on integrated point-of-sale systems. These exceptions are not able to run Windows 11 at this time. See the lifecycle link below for more information.

Note: All systems in your cardholder data environment must be running the most current versions of their operating systems and software. All patching must be up-to-date. This is required by PCI DSS requirement 6.2.

What is the impact of this announcement?

This means that if you are running an older version of IE on your desktop that you should upgrade to Windows 11 right away. If a new vulnerability is discovered in an older version of IE, that version will not receive a security patch to fix it. And unpatched systems are the primary targets of criminal hackers and malware. Internet Explorer 11 will continue to receive security updates, compatibility fixes, and technical support on Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.

More information

For questions, help, upgrade assistance, and other resources please see the End of Support announcement page at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/WindowsForBusiness/End-of-IE-support.

To learn more about exceptions and other supported operating systems read the Windows lifecycle FAQ sheet at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle#gp/Microsoft-Internet-Explorer.