Hotel chain swaps Windows for Chrome OS due to ransomware danger
Windows PCs are popular, especially for ransomware opportunists. That’s a big part of why Nordic Choice Hotels decided to abandon Windows.
Back in December 2021, the hotel chain suffered a ransomware attack that threatened to cripple its infrastructure. However, as the chain was already in the process of piloting its CloudReady migration from Windows to the Chrome OS ecosystem, it simply kicked the plan into high gear ahead of schedule and within 72 hours of the ransomware strike, 2,000 PCs spanning 212 hotels and five countries were converted (via Mynewsdesk).
Nordic Choice Hotels appears to be happy with its swap and shows no signs of considering a reversion to Windows, at least for the foreseeable future.
It’s no secret Windows is a ransomware magnet. According to VirusTotal, 95% of all ransomware attacks go after Microsoft’s operating system. And anyone who follows Windows news has likely seen the numerous reports of ransomware raining on the operating system’s parade wherever it can, including with regards to pedestrian functions such as Windows-based printing.
As such, it’s little surprise that a business unwilling to tolerate ransomware headaches would make the move to abandon the OS altogether and go with a safer alternative, assuming they don’t have a need for the specific functionalities Windows affords.
Microsoft and Google have a history of taking swipes at each other’s products and highlighting their competition’s drawbacks. However, the debate gets a little thornier when it comes to ransomware since in that department, (virtually) all major roads lead to Redmond.
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