Does using an older iOS make my iPhone vulnerable to being compromised?

Ok, thank you for your reply! I will update to 16.1.1. What are the chances that my phone was compromised remotely though? Even though the replies on here have been very helpful, I can’t help but worrying that since I’ve been running that old iOS (it was like 14.7 or something) until recently, that attackers were able to hack my iPhone and watch me through my camera. And I get really paranoid when I read about the NSA’s prism program or how they (and other foreign agencies) have the ability to remotely hack into iPhones through vulnerabilities and watch a certain person through their camera. I’ve also done my research on mercenary spyware such as Pegasus and predator and reign. I don’t know why but I just get super paranoid about this kind of stuff, it really freaks me out that potentially my every move on my phone is collected and monitored. Again, your reply is much appreciated, I know I probably sound like a crazy person, but I really appreciate the help from everyone on here.

Ok, thanks for the reply. To be honest, the reason why I’m so concerned is because of 2 things. For one, I have plans to begin writing my first crime novel soon. And because of this, I have done EXTENSIVE research and searches into some pretty horrible things. I’m talking doing this kind of research for the last 6 months to help me plan out my book. It doesn’t help that I’m a criminology major at my university too, and I take abnormal psychology, which means I also have to do a lot of similar research on bad stuff and things like that. In all my searching, I’ve never actually came across anything that could actually get me in trouble, but I worry that my search history in itself would raise some alarms. I’m worried that my search terms couldve been flagged by algorithms and now I’m on some kind of NSA watchlist or something. And I’m paranoid that they somehow hacked my iPhone remotely and are watching me through my camera. I know, it sounds absolutely ridiculous and irrational, but just the idea of that scares me. I’ve got anxiety/OCD issues in general and I’ve worried about a lot of irrational things and they feel super real to me in the moment. I’ve gotten banned from this forum on a different account for asking theoretical questions hahah, anyways, your reply would be much appreciated

Ok, good to know! Do security updates install automatically?

Ok thank you!

Ok thanks for the reply! I guess I really just shouldn’t read up on this kind of stuff online

I just got this. Thank you for your reply!