Security on older Mac OS's

[Ssherjj]

Hello..

Can anyone tell me if my El Capitian OX 10.11.6 has vulnerbilities, security issues because it is an outdated version of my iMac?

Will/is Malwarebytes Premium enough protection without using additional security ...such as Anti Virus Programs? I am running Webroot (with MBP) and I have just heard that the development teams are not really protecting the older Mac versions right now because they are concentrating on Catalina and Big Sur...

Also Does Malwarebytes conflict with Webroot. I have freezing up on my system along with the spinning beach balls when opening browsers and certain programs. I have to disable one of these AV's it seems?

Any advise? Any help appreciated.

Thank you!

[alvarnell]

I don't know enough about your computer skills and practices to give you a completely accurate answer, but in general you should be reasonably well off without and additional anti-malware (viruses are just one form of malware) software. As you probably know, Apple anti-malware support of El Capitan is currently limited to background updates for Gatekeeper, XProtect and MRT (Malware Removal Tool) as long as you have "Install system data files and security updates" enabled in System Preferences->App Store. macOS Security Update patches were discontinued over two years ago.

I'm sorry that I'm not very familiar with Webroot and have never used it, so can't say for certain whether it's causing issues for your or not. About all I know is that it hasn't performed that well in testing reviews that I've come across. Malwarebytes for Mac itself does not impact browser use at all, except for scanning anything you download. There are extensions available for Firefox and Chrome that might have a slight impact, but not Safari. Webroot does provide browser protection, so that could be causing those spinning beach balls, but there are other factors that may be more responsible. There are tips that might help here: http://www.macattorney.com/rbb.html.

Lastly, you don't want both Malwarebytes Premium and Webroots real-time/on-access protections to both be enabled. They almost certainly will interfere with each other as they compete to scan new files at the same time.

[Ssherjj]

Thank you @alvarnell for your quick response. I will take heed of your advice and great information and I will certainly check out the link so so kindly provided for me. 🙂

[treed]

Regarding the question of security vulnerabilities, any version of macOS that isn't the absolute latest will have vulnerabilities. There is some "conventional wisdom" that Apple supports the current system plus the two previous, but this is not an official stance from Apple and it's unclear whether this is actually true. If you're running anything other than the latest system - 10.15.6 at this time - it is safest to assume that your Mac has known vulnerabilities.

Keep in mind that as soon as a new system update is released, Apple's release notes include information about vulnerabilities that were fixed. For a sufficiently skilled security researcher or attacker, it's often not that difficult to examine the changes and find the source of the bug, which is one step away from figuring out how to exploit it.

[Ssherjj]

Thank you immensely for responding to my question @treed. Makes a lot sense to me. I am stuck at El Capitain because  my IMac is a 2007 with old hardware which I cannot update the OS is further. 😒   Time to get a new one...I have been saying that for years but....I am hanging in there..risky I know....

[Popeye]

2 hours ago, Ssherjj said:

Time to get a new one...I have been saying that for years but....I am hanging in there..risky I know....

You're missing out on a lot Sherry. The Big Sur this fall. Apples updated security and backed up with Malwarebytes Security. Time to trade in the antique Mac and get a new Mac.

[Ssherjj]

48 minutes ago, Popeye said:

You're missing out on a lot Sherry. The Big Sur this fall. Apples updated security and backed up with Malwarebytes Security. Time to trade in the antique Mac and get a new Mac.

Yes Popeye, I keep saying I will but haven't had an open door yet to get one. LOL😂

[exile360]

With Apple's planned shift to new silicon this generation, it's definitely a good time.  More efficient and cooler running than any before.  ARM chips designed by Apple engineers.  If their chip artisans are anywhere near as good as those who handle the internal layouts and designs for their hardware, these chips should really be something special, and given how efficient ARM chips are, issues with heat, efficiency/power usage/battery life should be a thing of the past.  They'll likely pack in plenty of cores too, since they can already fit an 8 core chip inside a smart phone, which should be great for content creators and anyone else with a CPU intensive, thread-heavy workload.

[WZZZ]

On 7/17/2020 at 9:45 AM, treed said:

Regarding the question of security vulnerabilities, any version of macOS that isn't the absolute latest will have vulnerabilities. There is some "conventional wisdom" that Apple supports the current system plus the two previous, but this is not an official stance from Apple and it's unclear whether this is actually true. If you're running anything other than the latest system - 10.15.6 at this time - it is safest to assume that your Mac has known vulnerabilities.

Keep in mind that as soon as a new system update is released, Apple's release notes include information about vulnerabilities that were fixed. For a sufficiently skilled security researcher or attacker, it's often not that difficult to examine the changes and find the source of the bug, which is one step away from figuring out how to exploit it.

Thomas, please clarify. Doesn't keeping up to date with security updates on any of the still supported but older OSs -- currently 10.13, 1014 -- cover any of those vulnerabilities, which you are suggesting are only patched in a new system update?

[alvarnell]

Not necessarily. If you check details of those security updates, you will see that some of the items are only patched on the current macOS (Catalina). Apple never actually tells us whether those vulnerabilities were present in earlier macOS versions or that they just didn't have the resources to come up with and test an adequate fix. That has always remained a mystery. And I doubt you will see another Security Update for macOS 10.13 beyond 2020-004.

[treed]

22 hours ago, WZZZ said:

Thomas, please clarify. Doesn't keeping up to date with security updates on any of the still supported but older OSs -- currently 10.13, 1014 -- cover any of those vulnerabilities, which you are suggesting are only patched in a new system update?

There has long been conventional wisdom that Apple will support the current release, plus the previous two (let's call that [current-2]). For example, 10.15 (the current release) plus 10.14 and 10.13. However, this is not something that has ever been stated by Apple, and I do not believe at this point that this conventional wisdom is true.

Some fixes are only patched in the latest version of the OS. Some will argue that that means the vulnerability doesn't exist in older systems - I've done so myself in the past - but I've seen evidence in recent years of vulnerabilities that 1) did affect a [current-2] release, and 2) were not fixed in anything other than the most current release. I've also seen particularly critical vulnerability fixes pushed out for versions outside that [current-2] range.

Bottom line: Apple's not saying anything and is behaving inconsistently, so anything goes. It would be safest to assume only the latest version of macOS is "safe." (And I put that in quotes because there are always more vulnerabilities, including some that are known to criminals but not yet to Apple, as well as the possibility of some that may be known to Apple but they deemed them not critical enough to delay a release for.)

[WZZZ]

Thanks Thomas, Al. I also used to think that vulns were OS specific. Now you've given me reason for doubt. In any case, even if I were able to upgrade to the latest and greatest OS with all the new mostly useless (at least to me) bells and whistles , due to be released in the fall - which I'm not - for better security, I wouldn't want to. Have too many 32 bit applications which I continue to rely on.

I've already installed 10.14, via dosdude patcher, on this late '09 iMac, and '10 Mini, and that will have to do for situations where a supported OS is needed once 10.13 is EOL. There has to be a  limit to just how much security is needed/affordable/practicable.

And we all need to watch out when everything switches over to ARM!