Renewing vintage iMac advice

[Terry_C]

I have a mid 2007 Mac (250 GB drive + 4GB memory) that has run flawlessly since new but naturally can now only only run El Capitan, so it is well past its expected life. My concerns revolve not only about reliability (I use Time Machine and SuperDuper to make bootable copies so the impact of disk failure is minimized) but also security. I use Firefox, so as to have an up to date browser, and run Malwarebytes, Little Snitch and RansomWhere. I also use NORD VPN so I'm trying to cover as many bases as possible. I run Onyx about 4 times a year as performance does gradually deteriorate, slow loading, hangs etc. but nothing significant.

However I'm conscious that the OS and possibly other Apps (Mail?) are well behind in terms of security and wonder what the ongoing risks in that area are? I do use it for online banking and shopping (using 1Password6 standalone) and I guess it's these areas that concern me.

At a cost of somewhere around £850 in 2008 it owes me nothing and I would probably move to a MacBook now.

Does anyone have any views on whether my current machine, (accepting the possibility of disk failure) is still viable from a security perspective.

Thanks

Terry

 

[pigoo3]

do use it for online banking and shopping (using 1Password6 standalone) and I guess it's these areas that concern me.

At a cost of somewhere around £850 in 2008 it owes me nothing and I would probably move to a MacBook now.

Does anyone have any views on whether my current machine, (accepting the possibility of disk failure) is still viable from a security perspective.

Disk failure is not an issue at all. As long as you do regular backups...if the hard drive should ever fail...it can always be replaced.

As far as security. This is such a difficult topic to address...since a lot of security issues can be prevented by the user:

- not visiting questionable websites
- not clicking on questionable links
- not replying to any questionable emails
- not clicking on anything in emails (links, attached files, etc.) that you're not 100% sure of the email source
- not downloading anything you're not 100% sure of the source
- etc

If all of these practices are adhered to...security threads can be greatly reduced.

- Nick

 

[krs]

I feel the same way as Nick, the user is the biggest security risk, so if you follow his suggestions
- not visiting questionable websites
- not clicking on questionable links
- not replying to any questionable emails
- not clicking on anything in emails (links, attached files, etc.) that you're not 100% sure of the email source
- not downloading anything you're not 100% sure of the source

you should be fine.
You are already doing more than most of us, one additional thing I would do is to set the Mc firewall to stealth - that theoretically makes your Mac invisible to pings from the net.

When I read about people claiming their email has been "hacked" or their computer has been "hacked", it turns out checking the details, that the user provided the information to allow someone access.
Hackers are more interested in collecting hundreds or thousands of pieces of personal information they can then sell to someone else, so they target corporations that have a large database to exploit - like Transunion recently, Equifax a while back and others.

 

[krs]

Here is an email I just received, supposedly from the administrator of my email provider.

Obviously fraud, but it's surprising how many people still fall for something like that and then claim their email or Mac has been "hacked"

The one even better I find is an email from paypal stating they just want to verify that $198.- payment you just made is legitimate or the bank confirming that you really did an e-transfer.
These items, where money is involved that may have been taken out of your account fraudulently, often gets people into a panic mode where they turn off all common sense.

 

[pm-r]

I feel the same way as Nick, the user is the biggest security risk,

+ another one!!!

My wife uses our mid 2007 iMac daily along with her iPhone 6s and iPad Air 2.

No problems.

PS: I also use my mid-2011 27" iMac daily, and mostly using Mac OS 10.9.5 Mavericks and occasionally my iPad 3.


- Patrick
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[Terry_C]

Thanks to all for your advice and comments. I think I'll carry on with it a bit longer, I doubt there's anything in post El Capitan builds that will greatly enhance my daily activities, a lot of which I now do on an iPad anyway.

Terry