A general curiosity question; why would one upgrade firmware besides the obvious (you run into an issue with exisiting firmware, that new firmware claims to fix)?
Is that the only reason?
Is my belief; if it ain't broke, don't 'f' with it, valid?
I have some cameras that are 6+ years old now; still run fine (yes, image is 'sh' compared to newer cameras, but they work fine with stock firmware).
Thanks for your comments!
It's just your opinion and that's what matters to you. What I think is only mine.
My thoughts:
The two biggest possible reasons I could think of to update are:
A security hole was found and the new FW patches it.
New features being added to the camera that wasn't there in earlier versions.
If you want to leave security holes open then that's up to you. Some do, some don't. Nefarious dudes could use your cams to mine bitcoin, attack other people, attack other items in your network and even sniff/copy all traffic going across your network. If you've ever logged in anywhere that needs a passcode from your internal network (like your bank maybe?) then you could be sharing the info (even if it is encrypted) with someone you don't want to. And yes, one could say "its encrypted" to which I explain that everything that has ever been broken was believed to be secure at some point.
An example: I had an encrypted word file from 15yrs ago that was laying around on the network. Someone had encrypted it, forgot the password and at the time, they asked me if I could help. I tried at the time and it couldn't be broken. Last year, I saw the file and I tried again with new methods/tech and it cracked within 60seconds.
So yes, you could say that someone might only get the locked code. But remember, it's only locked for now. Next year, it might be easily broken.