Is it still secure to use Snow Leopard?

Chris Ibsen wrote:

All these people love to try an scare you into converting by saying OMG your computer will be toast if you hit one bad site. It could happen to any computer on any OS X.

That is not at all true. Currently, there is no known way to install something via drive-by download on up-to-date versions of Safari. Your computer absolutely will NOT be toast just from visiting a bad site in Safari at this time, based on any currently available information.

Safari in Snow Leopard, however, hasn't been updated since 2013. I haven't kept myself updated on possible security issues with Safari in Snow Leopard, because I haven't used Snow Leopard in many years, and don't even own any machines that can run it anymore. However, there is a distinct possibility that some of the vulnerabilities that have been fixed for newer versions of Safari in the last two years could also be a problem for Safari 5.1.10 in Snow Leopard, but were not fixed.

Thus, it is possible that drive-by vulnerabilities exist in Safari on Snow Leopard. The only thing keeping you somewhat safe from such things is the fact that Snow Leopard is a shrinking target, probably not worth attacking by most hackers.

Regardless I still say if you remain sensible about being on the internet there is no reason to upgrade. Perhaps not everyone is in love with OS X bloatware (and to be frank Apple hasn't been too innovative in a long time) or maybe they have a machine that cannot upgrade any further. Logical reasons for sticking with what you like. Scare tactics to try an force upgrades are just that- fear mongering.

Chris Ibsen wrote:

Scare tactics to try an force upgrades are just that- fear mongering.

I'm trying to provide realistic and factual information about the threat level and possibilities for concern, as well as techniques for mitigating the risk (such as using an alternate, more up-to-date web browser), for those sticking with Snow Leopard. If you have some additional factual information to provide, please do so, but don't accuse me of fear-mongering when I'm doing nothing of the kind. Upgrading may not be the solution for everyone, but sticking your head in the sand and ignoring the issues is not a real solution for anyone.

Jake did you ever find a BROWSER that works with our SNOW LEOPARD MACS? I too am an audio engineer and I believe this is affecting a lot of studio engineers in my area.

Thanks.