I'm using an old Dell Optiplex. Legacy booting with Lilo. No problems just wondering security wise?

Well, I am booting using lilo as well. The way I understand it is, the world of software moves and keep moving. The BIOS is a software too. In my opinion, a software which is fixed once and for all security wise doesn't need tampering provided its reasonably small and well checked. I have this theory about software where you have a software which checks whether a number is even or odd. If you write it perfectly and correctly, its finished. But, that's not how people think now days. And I am not old. Maybe I am an odd guy.

Having said that, whether that's the case with this BIOS/UEFI thing is not known to me. The above was just my stance on software which is an unpopular one.

With desktops and laptops, updating the BIOS to the latest version usually is a sane idea. In production servers, maybe, maybe not. With older hardware and everything functioning, probably no need. Usually the deciding element is if something is broken. Often that is the case with bleeding edge hardware.

One caveat with very old hardware is some version of MS-DOS or Windows might be needed to update the BIOS. One caveat with newer BIOSes is often they are designed to not allow reverting to older versions.

I think it is just bugs corrections. You can use FreeDOS to update your BIOS (did it for my old laptop, a dell latitude E6400).

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For old machines esp. those beyond support, even the latest firmware is unlikely to have fixes to all easily exploitable loopholes.

The most powerful defence is to make yourself valueless to crackers.

I have dropped most of my professional skills after returning to China, so I have successfully passed examinations by the state police and am now happily receiving my salary without doing any valuable work everyday. In most though not all cases, neither China nor the USA wants to waste time on an idiot.

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Regarding security: First I don't think it's wise to update especially an older machine's BIOS strictly from security POV. Odds are it's good to do for hardware support and bug removal but security for BIOS firmware on older machines is likely best served by jumper or BIOS settings that lockout changes. Even that is entirely dependent on how you PC is used, in what environment.

The most secure environment is obviously having them air-gapped in a locked room. However that is way too restricted for the vast majority of what PCs are good for, networking. Certainly a good firewall is important as is the practice of actually requiring a manual, solidly password protected login instead of automated access. It doesn't hurt to monitor "who". One excellent practice is that of turning off any and all network interfaces when not actually in use. Really that's best in a nutshell - limit access at the most basic levels. All the rest is negotiable.

Generally speaking, BIOS updates will be more about bug fixes and feature updates than anything else. If your system is working fine, generally you don't need to bother. That said, for desktops it's often good practice to update BIOS before installing a newer OS. For servers, check the patch notes first.

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Thanks for every ones reply. Not an issue anymore the old Dell just gave up the ghost. However, seeing that I'm an cheap old goat, I'm going to buy another old off lease pc. That's the best thing about Slackware. It works on old cobbled together computer parts. Fun.