"Continued Use of Python 2 Will Heighten Security Risks"

Many developers continue to use Python 2 after the Python Software Foundation ended its support for the programming language through improvement updates or security fixes on January 1, 2020, increasing security risks for their organizations. The Python Software Foundation, as well as security researchers, urge organizations and their developers to move to Python 3 because if critical security vulnerabilities are found in Python 2 or software written in the language, they will not be fixed. Despite the official announcement of the programming language's end-of-life (EOL), Python 2.0 versions of Python packages remain the most downloaded from the Python Package Index. The UK's National Cyber Security Institute warned that the Python 2 EOL could potentially leave millions of systems vulnerable to attacks. According to a survey conducted by ActiveState last year in which 1,200 individuals participated, 31% of organizations did not have a plan in place to migrate to Python 3, and 37% of the respondents said most of the Python apps used in their organizations were based on Python 2. Security stability, code inertia, and the struggle to find Python 3 packages that offer the same functionality as Python 2 versions are a few reasons as to why some organizations have been slow to migrate to Python 3. This article continues to discuss the Python 2 EOL, how the continued use of this programming language could significantly impact security, and reasons to why migration to Python 3 is slow. 

Dark Reading reports "Continued Use of Python 2 Will Heighten Security Risks"