Meltdown and Spectre using Windows 2003 Server & Windows XP

[dutchboi]

What is the best CURRENT options to protect our company from Meltdown and Spectre?  We have both Windows 2003 Server and Windows XP with Malwarebytes protection.  Our company is in the process of migrating software and it is NECESSARY to keep these computers running with these specific operating systems for the next months to operate this until the migration is complete.  Our current software will only operate on Windows 2003 server and Windows XP.  Upgrading the operating system is not a viable option.

Any timely help and guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[dcollins]

The best option will be to keep your security software up to date to prevent infections from getting into your machines in the first place. However, I'm fairly certain you can't do anything to completely mitigate the issue besides getting on a newer operating system.

[pvsurfer]

Re the above advice I would just add....  be sure you are running anti-exploit and create disk-image backups on a frequent basis!

[0x6A7232]

Here, try this (at your own risk of course but it should be fine, and I think it will work for both XP and Server 2003)

 

It basically allows XP / 2K3 to get POSReady 2009 updates (supported through 2019).

 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/registry-hack-enables-continued-updates-for-windows-xp/

Edited January 9, 2018 by 0x6A7232

[AdvancedSetup]

Hello @dutchboi

From what I can tell Microsoft does not appear to be planning to do updates for Servers before 2012 or Consumer OS before Windows 7

https://support.microsoft.com/en-sg/help/4073757/protect-your-windows-devices-against-spectre-meltdown

So whether or not you made changes to your OS for any registry modification that Microsoft is looking for in order to do updates would not apply to older operating systems.

As best as possible as @dcollins said, keep the box as up to date with security software and keep good backups. If or when a threat that can target this bug comes out hopefully your security software can detect and prevent it from doing it's job of stealing data.

Ron

 

[0x6A7232]

Looks like no patch for POSReady regardless (too much change):

No, Windows XP / 2K3 systems will not be patched.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4073757/protect-your-windows-devices-against-spectre-meltdown

"We will not be issuing updates for Windows Vista or Windows XP-based systems including WES 2009 and POSReady 2009."

"Although Windows Vista and Windows XP-based systems are affected products, Microsoft is not issuing an update for them because the comprehensive architectural changes required would jeopardize system stability and cause application compatibility problems. We recommend that security-conscious customers upgrade to a newer supported operating system to keep pace with the changing security threat landscape and benefit from the more robust protections that newer operating systems provide."