I was wonder with a anti virus program installed is my Mac Air 11 inch 2014 still secure. It has all the updates for Big Sur, but I wonder is the Keychain still secure. I hate to throw it away it looks and functions like its brand-new. I mean literally its like new, and still holds a good charge. Thoughts? from my favorite Mac forum.
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Mac Book 11 inch Air Early 2014 secuirty
- Thread starter Trt740
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Keychain, itself, is decent, encryption-wise, but it gets documented CVEs (common vulnerability enumeration records) even today. Newer OSs obviously get tighter, compensate better for human carelessness and bad luck. In some versions, Safari can be updated, even if the OS is left behind.
The most serious exploits (big stakes, massive damage) are architected to slither around signature based third part anti-virus. Heuristic screening improves things a bit. However, if any anti-malware programs were a solution, there'd be no ongoing chatter. And the KeyChain is such a very tasty morsel.
The biggest attack surface of all remains human behavior. SOMETHING starts the exploit chain, and that's almost always a person clicking on hackers' bait. Apple's AppControl won't help if you run as admin on your system and literally grant hackers permission to pwn yur ess-aich-eye-tee.
As a compensating controls, consider...
Mobile device security is a different ball of wax. Like ear wax. Nasty.
The most serious exploits (big stakes, massive damage) are architected to slither around signature based third part anti-virus. Heuristic screening improves things a bit. However, if any anti-malware programs were a solution, there'd be no ongoing chatter. And the KeyChain is such a very tasty morsel.
The biggest attack surface of all remains human behavior. SOMETHING starts the exploit chain, and that's almost always a person clicking on hackers' bait. Apple's AppControl won't help if you run as admin on your system and literally grant hackers permission to pwn yur ess-aich-eye-tee.
As a compensating controls, consider...
- Setting your normal account permissions to "User" rather than "Admin."
- As Admin, follow strict rules about app usage. No Mail. No messaging.
- For important, trustworthy sites that need credentials from Keychain, use Safari with an ad blocker.
- For casual browsing, use a throw-away garbage browser like Chrome tooled up with NoScript, AdBlock, Ghostery and Leechblock, and learn how to configure them.
- Regardless of the browser, use only your own curated bookmarks; never click links provided in ANY form of message.
- Yeah, I suppose, third party anti-malware apps, if it makes you feel better.
Mobile device security is a different ball of wax. Like ear wax. Nasty.
Final Security Update for your 2014 will be released this year. You can mitigate this by using OCLP but it negates the reason to buy or use a Mac, its simplicity and user friendliness.
Anti-virus macOS apps are designed mostly target Windows viruses so your Mac does not pass it on to Windows. It isn't really designed to protect your Mac from suffering an infection.
If you are the 1st owner and bought your MBA 9 years ago I'd prep for a 2024 MBA M3.
Yep hate to let it go. It works so good and looks like the day I bought it for my son. It even says that battery is at 93 percent of its original health. Not a mark on it and it starts lightning fast. It goes for about $75.00 on eBay. I might just give it to a kid for school work. It is a testament to how good Apple products are. It literally outlasted the software and still works great. I used to buy a laptop every 2 years before Apple because Windows PCs are junk and broke. My son moved on to a New M1 Mac a few years ago and he gave it back to me. I mainly use it and my iPad to pay bills. One screen on my bank account and the other on finance software. I will the say the screens a bit small for my old eyes but zoom is on etc. Might be time to let it go.
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There are tonnes of collectors who buy Macs as old as ours. I'd have replaced my 2012 iMac 27" with a 2023 iMac 32" if Apple managed to get display parts for less than $1k.
By comparison the average age of cars and light trucks in the US has risen to a new record of 12.5 years.
Be aware that almost all "hacks" of computers centers around the web browser. Firefox & Chrome provides additional 5 more years of updates after Windows or maOS support are dropped.
So Macs with Big Sur should enjoy 3rd party browser support until 2028. All the "free" macOS services you enjoy like iMessage, FaceTime, iCloud, etc will gradually be deactivated or become incompatible with other more updated Apple devices.
Typical replacement cycle for computers
- 4 years: Apple
- 5-6 years: Intel
- 8 years: macOS EOL for 2017-2020 Intel Macs
- 9+ years: macOS EOL for pre-2017 Intel Macs
- 122 months: Windows EOL
- 11+ years: <8% 🇺🇳; <9% 🇺🇸; <5% 🇬🇧; <13% 🇮🇳; <8% 🇨🇦; <2% 🇦🇫; <0% 🇰🇵; <5% 🇨🇺
Fully concur with sack_peak on this one.
Here's a supplemental idea that I'm considering in my own similar situation. I might dedicate the old fella to kiosk duty in the kitchen. Maybe it will run a desktop Post-it Note program, Carrot Weather, Xfinity TV, the video streaming app for the couple old iPhones I use just as cameras on the driveway and horse barn. I'd delete all other apps. Log out of iCloud/Apple accounts. Purge all the local apps/data stores, purge it's local keychain. Detach it from any alerting/alarms. At that point, I might create a couple FileMaker Pro databases to serve to phones just on the local wifi lan.
Linux... Geeze... I just don't feel like Linux is ready for a consumer's prime-time desktop. Even after all these years, desktop linux remains a mad scientist laboratory. Some are better than others, but, generally:
- There's no reliable mobile device support (Androids and Linux were never intended to operate like iPhones, iPads and Mac's mesh up together)
- There's no reliable chipset driver support, updating or tech support
- There are very few top-grade apps and no reliable support (OpenOffice, inkscape, gimp, darktable, chrome, thunderbird)
- Security-wise - oh jeeze! Few examples...
- You'll have to configure the the UFW firewall and hundreds of other settings... At the command line!
- You can't be certain what apps fail open, and which fail closed
- You can't really be certain what's in an application's payload, unless you do code review and MAKE the app yourself to run.
- Clam AV is adequate, but again, lot of configuration at the command line, and lots of trougleshooting conflicts.
- Every OS upgrade, assuming there are any, might break any number of settings you had struggled to figure out.
- There are some intriguing app choices, but, again, they're patchy and tech support virtually non-existent.
I have no input to your security issues, but I wanted to congratulate you on keeping a 2014 going this long. My early 2015 MBA was on its second (dying) battery, trackpad could only be clicked in one corner, overheated on many websites, and my bank and even Wikipedia refused to talk to it for the last couple years. (mine still looked good too, however)
For the valid reasons that worry you about security, I couldn't in good conscience hand it off to anyone expecting to use it live on the internet for real-life things. It would be like giving a kid a security-privacy hand grenade.
Keep it as a light-duty secure side piece, or sell it for parts. It can still do good, but not in a higher-threat landscape.
Linux is free for a reason.
It will cost you your time.
That's ok if you are less than quarter century old but if you are at your last quarter century then why waste time on Linux?
Have you considered using an external mouse & keyboard?
Your 2015 MBA should get its final Security Update within 12 months.
To prevent overloading your Safari I'd install AdBlock for Safari.
My preferred browser is Firefox with ABP add-on to prevent ads from overloading your Mac.
If I was in your position I'd replace it with a 2025 MBA M4 released by WWDC 2025. But then again a 2023 MBA M3 is tempting when it gets released in Q1 2023 before April 2023.
To anyone reading this Intel Macs released between 2017-2020 will receive their final Security Update 8 years later between 2025-2028.
EU law dictates that all new or refreshed notebooks, tablets, smartphones and devices with a battery must be user replaceable by 2027. So if you want to schedule a replacement before 2028 then include it for your decision making.
I have a 2018 AW4 44mm, 2018 iPad Pro 11" & 2019 MBP 16" and will likely replace them by 2027 & 2028 respectively in light of that EU law.
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I use a MacBook Air 2014 that I bought my wife new. Never had any security issues at all.
My two daughters use a MacBook Air 2014 and 2015 again no security issues and goodness knows what they do on them in their free time! Yes I am a good Daddy and do monitor the laptops frequently.
I venture to say, and wait to be shot down, that hackers still focus on Windows PC's and those of us with Mac's are relatively unscathed thus far. Certainly it's true in my world.
We do have Norton Security on all the laptops but I cannot evaluate how effective that is in the real world it's just something I pay for every year to make me feel more secure whether it is true or not!
My two daughters use a MacBook Air 2014 and 2015 again no security issues and goodness knows what they do on them in their free time! Yes I am a good Daddy and do monitor the laptops frequently.
I venture to say, and wait to be shot down, that hackers still focus on Windows PC's and those of us with Mac's are relatively unscathed thus far. Certainly it's true in my world.
We do have Norton Security on all the laptops but I cannot evaluate how effective that is in the real world it's just something I pay for every year to make me feel more secure whether it is true or not!
No shootings here. Though, one can't see a successful hack with the naked eye. If you got pwned as a node in a command & control network, the only way you'd know is to forensically examine files, logs and network traffic at the level of packet source and destination. The most prolific diseases are more contagious than they are lethal.
Statistically, the majority of hacks are tailored to Windows because the numbers there are staggering. Therefore, statistically, that's where more people manage data and wealth, where more known vulnerabilities are left unpatched, where more security features are intentionally disabled, where more careless clicks allow malware to execute as admin. Amateur hackers get a boost from readily available modular malware kits, command & control servers for rent, and target lists for sale.
Unix was effectively nonexistent among consumers for its first forty years (1960s to 2000s), and remains a minority even today, despite the growing popularity of MacOS and iOS. However, as the platform grows market share, hackers will congeal like barnacles. The pricier buy-in for MacOS/iOS implies that Apple devices represent a greater concentration of wealth, making it more attractive to hack. Desktop Linux represents a growing demographic which might have reached 23 (Not percent. 23.), so Mac Users can still make dismissive fun of them.
Architecturally, Unix started on stronger bones, and benefited from decades of lessons learned, when Windows was a comparative noob. It takes a different degree of skill to hack Unix. Modern Windows is more like Unix than Microsoft will casually admit. Like MacOS and iOS, Windows 10-11 built-in safeguards and tools are pretty good without third party apps. Properly secured, Windows and MacOS/iOS are about as tight as possible while still remaining usable.
Users have always been the weak link in the kill chain. Someone in this thread made observed that anti-malware programs running on Macs don't necessarily aid or tighten the Mac; rather, they simply reduce re-transmission of windows exploits to other Windows users. That's true. The next level of anti-exploit apps could well be AI-bolstered nannies that do behavioral analytics, and treat you like the Heart of Gold's alternate computer personality.
As I understand it, Apple's planned fall-off in security patching for the 2014-15's final OS is yet to come?? But when that time DOES come, it might be irresponsible to use that OS in production without compensating controls that most users find formidable, finicky, frustrating and forcibly f____ed up.
I still use my MacBook Air 11-inch 2014 model. It's running Mojave! I'm pretty careful about what I do on it though of course there are no more updates for Mojave. There were a couple of XProtect updates earlier this month. I am aware of its potential vulnerabilities.
Your Air is more up to date than mine in OS and software (Safari included). I tend to use Safari and a very recent version of Firefox depending on what I'm doing.
However, I am about to move on to an M2 Pro Mac Mini as my main computer (a 13-inch 2015 MacBook Air currently does that job, also running Mojave etc). I've had many years of good service from both Airs and I'll continue to use them for 'safe' tasks, I imagine, until I get a new laptop.
If you can continue to get some use from yours then why not. But as others have suggested, there comes a time when it's much more sensible, if not essential, to be up to date with the OS and software. Not doing anything stupid on an old machine is a priority, of course. And the 11-inch Air is a wonderful machine. Mine is like new, too. I shall continue to respect it even if it is 'retired'.
Your Air is more up to date than mine in OS and software (Safari included). I tend to use Safari and a very recent version of Firefox depending on what I'm doing.
However, I am about to move on to an M2 Pro Mac Mini as my main computer (a 13-inch 2015 MacBook Air currently does that job, also running Mojave etc). I've had many years of good service from both Airs and I'll continue to use them for 'safe' tasks, I imagine, until I get a new laptop.
If you can continue to get some use from yours then why not. But as others have suggested, there comes a time when it's much more sensible, if not essential, to be up to date with the OS and software. Not doing anything stupid on an old machine is a priority, of course. And the 11-inch Air is a wonderful machine. Mine is like new, too. I shall continue to respect it even if it is 'retired'.
Over more years than I care to remember none of the family have ever had security problems using Mac's. Maybe we are just careful as has been said already the biggest risk is users.
In the last 5 years I have had a credit card compromised once, my own fault I was in the UK and sent my wife flowers in the Philippines for our wedding anniversary. Used a local Philippines flower shop. Bit of a roll of the dice I think and I lost! Funnily enough it was a credit card with a low wish limit and someone tried to buy a full spec MacBook Pro with it which exceeded the limit. Thank goodness Mac's are so expensive
No other family events at all.
In the last 5 years I have had a credit card compromised once, my own fault I was in the UK and sent my wife flowers in the Philippines for our wedding anniversary. Used a local Philippines flower shop. Bit of a roll of the dice I think and I lost! Funnily enough it was a credit card with a low wish limit and someone tried to buy a full spec MacBook Pro with it which exceeded the limit. Thank goodness Mac's are so expensive
No other family events at all.
I still use my 2015 11-inch Air (typing this response using my 11 inch Air) and have updated my laptop to MacOS 14.0 Sonoma. I don't do a lot of intensive tasks with my Air. Just the usual web browsing and email mostly on this laptop and have no complaints. Nice thing about having Sonoma running on my laptop is that I can still run the current OS on this hardware and have current security patches that comes with the current OS.
Wow one of my daughters has a 2015 Air and I didn't realise it would run Sonoma. Will have to update that when I get back home. It's only one though me and one of my daughters have 2014 Air's which are stuck on Big Sur
I use OpenCore Legacy Patcher 1.1.0 to build a Sonoma installer thumb drive so I can install MacOS 14.0 on my Air. With OCLP I'm not limited to the older MacOS and can extend the usable life of my computers.
EDIT: I have since updated my OpenCore to 1.2.0 and installed MacOS 14.2 on my 11-inch Air without issue.
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Well Guys I took your advice and after 9.6 years my MacBook Air 11.6 inch is going on eBay. We took such good care of it , the MacBook looks almost brand new and runs very quickly. Heck even the battery still goes for about 3 hours on normal use. However, I bought a MacBook Air M2 8Gb 256gb ,Space gray today, and I have to say the set up was crazy easy. After setting the two Macs next to each other to migrate one to the other, I couldn't help looking at how well the 11.6 inch still looks and works. I used to be Windows guy but gave that up after headache after headache. I have to say the new Mac is flat-out insane battery wise and picture clarity. Apple really has class when it comes to these devices. I hope some kid in middle school get my old Mac for a homework machine. I am so please with this MacBook Air . It runs Ice cold and smacks of quality just like my old MacBook.
Thanks to all who posted.
Thanks to all who posted.
Having recently installed Monterey via OCLP on a 2011 iMac, I certainly don't notice any hits to simplicity or user-friendliness.
Whilst I have a M2 Air, I'm probably going to try OCLP on my previous Air, an 11" 2015. I love the 11" form factor; it's the laptop that goes on holiday with me. It would be great to eek out a few more years with it on Ventura or Sonoma.
I was just using my MacBook Air 2010 high Sierra without a problem 15 minutes ago.
mainly because that's the 14th year I owned the great MacBook since yesterday!
I never felt vulnerable or worried surfing some sites, even this one.
sad,
these MacBooks seem to last as long as we want them to
mainly because that's the 14th year I owned the great MacBook since yesterday!
I never felt vulnerable or worried surfing some sites, even this one.
sad,
these MacBooks seem to last as long as we want them to
I am sorry, and I don't want to start an argument here, but… I have a PC from 2003 and it still works and believe it or not I'm able to run Windows 10 on it (badly, so it's currently on XP) and it's a desktop PC, but I also have a Dell laptop from 2007 and it runs Windows 10 as well. (both run 32-bit only), but it's downgraded to Windows 7. There are so many Windows PCs out there and they're all with different quality. The fact that yours broke doesn't mean all of them break, however, I must mention that I used MSI Modern 14 for awhile and I just opened the lid and it just cracked and the screws fell out. I've never dropped it, never hit it and it's been mostly on my table. I went back to the store they said that I broke it and they won't take it back. I had to go through a brutal warranty process to get it fixed. Also, my work laptop, which is HP and is from 2019 still works just fine. It's been on the table all the time connected to the Docking station. I'd also like to add that my MacBook (early 2008) and MacBook Pro (mid 2010) still work, but software wise both of them are outdated.