is macOS Catalina still safe to use?

[the_marko]

I have 27" iMac with SSD and 24 G RAM and it performs and works very well. However I cannot upgrade to newer os. Is Catalina still safe to use? There are many recent vulnerabilities in many Apple operating systems but are these affecting the Catalina? No security updates available at this point in system settings... I use this Mac for work, coding and stuff. Browser is Chrome and Email client is Edison Mail.
Thanks in advance!

 

[rm5]

There have been several exploits patched in Big Sur, Monterey, and Ventura, that were not included in Catalina, because it lost support in 2022. So sure, you can still use it, but as far as your question about it being completely safe to use, uh, no, it's not.

 

[the_marko]

Ok thanks! Have to do something then... Linux is not an option at this point...

What about Opencore legacy patcher? If supported? Some people have e.g. Ventura on OLD 2011 Mac Mini and 2012 MBP

 

[rm5]

What year is your Mac? That'll determine how well OpenCore Legacy Patcher will run.

 

[the_marko]

It should be supported If I understand correctly. iMac 27" Late 2013 (started using it not until 2015). 24 G RAM, system on external SSD (512 GB).

 

[rm5]

Looks like you're all set then! I'd recommend using Monterey, because it'll get another year of support. Look at this page for instructions on how to use it. There are also numerous videos on YouTube about it, too.

 

[Racineur]

I too have an iMac that can be tweaked to boot Monterey but my biggest concerns are will it be possible to revert to Catalina (iMac boots from an external SSD) if I mess up? Will my iMac be as responsive as with Catalina? Is it possible to install Monterey on an external SSD? Thanks.

 

[Deltakon]

There have been several exploits patched in Big Sur, Monterey, and Ventura, that were not included in Catalina, because it lost support in 2022. So sure, you can still use it, but as far as your question about it being completely safe to use, uh, no, it's not.

What can be done then?

 

[raziel101]

As long as you are not downloading files from questionable sites, and use the latest version of Firefox, how likely are you to be impacted by recently patched vulnerabilities?

 

[unrigestered]

depends on how many other apps, especially the native ones that won't get updated anymore, you are using.
for instance, at least as far as i understand, just receiving an iMessage from some stranger without the need for you to even click on it, has been enough at one point to corrupt your macOS or iOS device.
of course this has long been patched, but you never know if, or when someone else found some other loop-holes in one of your apps that don't get updated anymore on your unsupported system.

personally, i still think that you should be pretty safe if you are using common sense most of the time, but there is still some possibility that your system could be corrupted in some rare cases even if you did nothing wrong, or even nothing at all.

but of course even up to date systems are not immune to such newly surfaced zero day exploits either. they are usually just not exploitable in that specific manner for as long.
but there are also some recently fixed exploits are said to have been abused for more than 10 years before they had been discovered by some of the good guys.

 

[chrfr]

As long as you are not downloading files from questionable sites, and use the latest version of Firefox, how likely are you to be impacted by recently patched vulnerabilities?

It's unlikely, but it's also not quantifiable.

 

[gpat]

As long as you are not downloading files from questionable sites, and use the latest version of Firefox, how likely are you to be impacted by recently patched vulnerabilities?

An unpatched system may be exploited as long as it's connected to the Internet, even while sitting on an idle desktop.
If you store valuable data on it, usually Murphy's law applies.

 

[wicknix]

Even the newest releases arent 100% secure. New exploits are found every day. Staying offline and not installing any software is the only way to be air locked and safe. Now that isnt feasible for 99.9% of people, so just be cautious of what you install, click on, etc. Most people will never encounter any issues. Heck, i run multiple outdated mac OS versions trouble free. An updated browser is really all the average user needs.

You could always install macports and update most of the underlying system that way (coreutils, bash, ca-certs, etc). I do.

Side note: Look at cell phones. Most never get updates after the first year, and millions of people still use them trouble free for banking, ebay, etc. Nobody buys a new phone every 6-12 months just to have an updated OS.