How long should my M4 Mac mini be good for?

[throAU]

Security-wise, I think for actual work machines this issue is overrated, no one is going to hack your old machine unless you do something that might get someone’s interest. Sure I wouldn’t recommend open banking apps on this old computer, but even if you do it is not unsafe since most banks have had 2fa for a long time already

Without knowing the future, i'd feel less uneasy running and older mac from after the T2 security module became a thing but in terms of concern - if its used for something important (like... connected to work) you *really* should try to keep on something that gets updates.

Because whilst its probably relatively low risk, "oh, the bad guys got into our company because they compromised my 15 year old mac and hijacked my open browser because i'm too tightfisted to spend $700 on a new mac mini every 7 years!" is not a conversation you really want to have.

2FA won't help you if you log into your bank and there's a RAT on it to hijack your logged in session, or screen record to steal your personal info to impersonate you, etc.


Also - assuming "no one will hack you unless you make yourself a target" is dangerous.

Every computer on the internet is a target. Sure, you won't get nation state attention, but compromised websites can, have done and will again host malware in the site that could/would infect your machine via an out of date browser - simply by visiting a compromised website, that was automatically compromised from another infected site or infected browser.

e.g. i'm old enough to remember dealing with this

Nimda - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[uacd]

Every computer on the internet is a target. Sure, you won't get nation state attention, but compromised websites can, have done and will again host malware in the site that could/would infect your machine via an out of date browser - simply by visiting a compromised website, that was automatically compromised from another infected site or infected browser.

That’s btw a reason why I use adblock: it keeps most of these scammers away and probably blocks most malware code before it is even being run.

Security definitely matters in corporate setting, government communications surely, but for casual user visiting only few websites like YouTube, Reuters, Macrumors or Tiktok it probably won’t be an issue. Not so many people wanna deal with adblock, though

 

[throAU]

That’s btw a reason why I use adblock: it keeps most of these scammers away and probably blocks most malware code before it is even being run.

Security definitely matters in corporate setting, government communications surely, but for casual user visiting only few websites like YouTube, Reuters, Macrumors or Tiktok it probably won’t be an issue. Not so many people wanna deal with adblock, though

Ad block is a good idea because its only a matter of time before someone compromises an ad network, but its not a silver bullet.

Thats one reason i run adblock, the other is i don't want the level of ad misbehavior of the modern internet.