[dereg]

There's another way which you could see this, which is that the cost of maintaining backward compatibility for every prior piece of hardware only increases the surface area for vulnerabilities to emerge.

Also, if security is your #1 priority you should pay the cost of the upgrade. Monterey is compatible with Macs as old as 2015. That means that Apple will sunset security support for it in 2024. That's nine years of supported life for your computer – not bad.