I think it's important to address the story that's been circulating recently about certain ATM's being infected with Welchia.

There are patches available for XPE that address both MS03-039 and MS03-026. Applying the latest patch to your XPE devices will protect you from the vulnerabilities described by each patch. It is important to note that the ATM's described in the story above were not patched.

In short, this story isn't about XPE being vulnerable - it's no more vulnerable than Windows XP Pro, and in some cases, can even be less vulnerable. For example, some recent patches to XP Pro address vulnerabilities in Windows Help and Support Center and Messenger service. If your device does not include these features (by not including the components for these features), you aren't vulnerable to these problems, even if you don't have the patch in place.

Hope this helps - note that everything in this blog represents my own opinions and views, and nothing can or shold be construed to be official from Microsoft.