The number of computers in the federal ministries and subordinate authorities that are still operated with Windows 7 is significantly higher than previously assumed. In second gear, the federal government is now going from “at least 51. 479 Clients “on which the operating system is still running that Microsoft has been using since 14. January 2020 no longer supported for free with security updates. A year ago the lead Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) was still on 33. 000 relevant IT jobs come.

Problem bigger than known Even then it was clear that the support and migration problem would be much bigger: in In the earlier overview, five of the 12 Federal Ministries were not listed at all. Apparently it was just about the departments in which Windows 7 still plays a particularly important role.

With the significantly increased number of computers for which the federal government has to spend money on further security updates via Microsoft’s Extended Security Update Program (ESU), the necessary expenses have more than doubled: the federal government initially calculated for 2020 with fees of 700. 000 Euro, it ended up according to a heise online current answer to a request from the Green Bundestag member Konstantin von Notz at 1.9 million euros. Until 2023 should “at least around 2, 51 Costs of millions of euros arise “.

The distribution of the affected computers to the individual departments and larger authorities was broken down by the government to Netzpolitik.org. In the Chancellery and the Federal Ministries there are a total of around 14. 000 people busy. This does not include the employees in the many subordinate authorities. The Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Defense are particularly well-staffed departments. The latter leads the ranking of the departments on which PCs with Windows 7 are still in operation, also with 27. 326 corresponding jobs.

No Windows 7 only in the Ministry of Education The Ministry of the Interior follows in second place with 12. 800 computers that need extra support, the Foreign Office occupies third place with 10. 700 such computer. The Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure still has to pay a separate support fee to Microsoft for 5000 jobs, the Agriculture and Health departments each for around 1700, the commissioner for culture and media for 1500. At the Ministry of Economic Affairs 1118 computers. In all other areas of government and its subordinate administration, the number is below 1000. The Federal Ministry of Education is the only one that no longer uses PCs with Windows 7.

The information could still be incomplete, the government warns. The authorities and departments are in favor of a timely changeover to Windows 10 after expiry responsible for Windows 7 support. Central records are not kept. The departmental inquiry has still not been “answered by everyone”.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior deliberately does not provide any information on the IT infrastructure of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and for reasons of confidentiality at the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In the meantime, it can be seen from job advertisements that the Federal Office for Consumer Protection, for example, is still specifically looking for three IT specialists with thorough knowledge of the Windows 7 systems and is looking for.

Dependency as a problem The The authors of a study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of the Interior 2019 had already come to the conclusion that the dependence on Microsoft products in particular “leads to pain points in the federal administration”. This is “in contradiction to the strategic goals of the IT of the federal government”. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) announced at the time that he would hold talks with software providers and examine alternative programs. The use of free software should play an essential role here.

In the new plan for slow IT consolidation, however, there is no mention of open source. The Ministry of Defense remains in the recorded, up to 2028 running four waves for the harmonization of computer and server structures as well as the relocation of services to the cloud, as well as left out the Foreign Office.

(mho)