Fear of cyberattacks is driving a return to older technology

Using outdated technology for security may sound contradictory, but cybersecurity expert Mikko Hyppönen says it can sometimes make systems less attractive to attackers.

For years, Hyppönen avoided widely used services such as Hotmail and Gmail and relied instead on Eudora, an email program that had long since become obsolete. He continued using it years after technical support ended and argued that it was “really superior in many ways.” Its security was far from perfect, but hackers appeared to overlook it as users moved to newer tools.

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I continued using it even years after technical support had ended.

Hyppönen calls the approach “security by antiquity.” Others refer to it as “security by obsolescence.” The logic is that criminals, most of whom are looking to make money, often focus on systems with large numbers of users. Hyppönen said attackers have little reason to target a system used by only 50 people.

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Really superior in many ways.

The idea has applications beyond email. Ireland’s aviation authority decided to continue using ground-based radio navigation beacons after learning that the newer satellite-based GPS system had become highly vulnerable to signal jamming.

University of California professor Matt Bishop encountered a similar result while testing a honeypot in the 1990s. His team deliberately left an internet-connected system exposed to catch hackers and bots, using an old software version that had been updated many times since its release. No hackers targeted it. After the researchers upgraded the system, it attracted exactly the attacks they had been seeking.

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The vast majority of attackers are criminals trying to make money, and it simply makes no sense for them to target systems used by only 50 people.