We recently read an article at Network World which talks about a recent hack that has been discovered for PCs that are running the pcAnywhere program.

Roan Solutions manages many different types of clients that have different situations but one of the most dangerous things to see in a marketplace is a number of computers be this vulnerable for an attack.

The article suggests that there are over 200,000 computers that are vulnerable. 2.5% is the average rate of computers that run point of sale programs which estimates that there are approximately 5,000 computers that are vulnerable that also contain crucial credit card information.

According to Rapid7, which prowled the Web looking for pcAnywhere systems, an estimated 150,000-to-200,000 PCs are running an as-yet-unpatched copy of the Symantec software, and are thus vulnerable to be hijacked by remote attacks, which could commandeer the machine’s keyboard and mouse, and view what’s on the screen.

About 2.5% of those vulnerable Windows PCs, or between 3,450 and 5,000 systems, are running a point-of-sale system — Windows PCs are often paired with cash registers by small businesses — potentially putting credit card data at risk, said HD Moore, chief security officer at Rapid7.

Although privacy is a major concern, the problem isn’t that hackers can use over 200,000 computers to spy on the owners of these computers, the problem is that since hackers now have computers that contain credit card information, they can turn their efforts into a profit.

Roan Solutions helps businesses to prepare for these kinds of things and also against any threat to the technology that a business might use.

But Moore sees it as a big problem. “There are a lot [of PCs] that haven’t been updated,” he said. “It seems the recent patches have been very much ignored.”

And it will likely get worse before it gets better.

Another major issue that the company is experiencing is that despite there being a repair to the original software, users aren’t taking the time to install the updated software, leaving them vulnerable.

You can read the full article by clicking here. Let us know what you think! Do you think that these hackers will take full advantage over the information that they have now obtained?