I have a 2012 mac mini running 10.15.7. I am assuming that after the upcoming fall release of Ventura security updates for 10.15 will stop. I use my 2012 mini as our home file server and it runs headless, so I have remote access enabled for my internal network only. I use an edge router for my firewall and no ports are exposed on the mini. I do not use the mini for websurfing but I do have backblaze, one drive and google drive & relizo sync installed, these services can access the internet. Should I be worried about the future lack of security updates?
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Is Catalina safe to use when Apple stops support.
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In a year? No. In five years? Yes.
You might consider using OCLP (OpenCore Legacy Patcher) to install Monterey. But other than that, keep using Catalina for the time being, and if there are any serious problems with it security-wise, you could use OCLP.
Long-term (like 2-3 years from now), you might consider getting an actual server and installing TrueNAS. There's probably some way to install Backblaze and Resilio Sync on TrueNAS, but if not, use a different, secure OS. I used to run a Mac mini as a file server, and it was just too slow. So I upgraded in September 2021 to a temporary 1 TB server (which I'm now using for VMs), and then just last month built this insane 24 TB file server. And it's reliable, secure, and fast. Just something to think about for the long-term - but do not worry about this now.
You might consider using OCLP (OpenCore Legacy Patcher) to install Monterey. But other than that, keep using Catalina for the time being, and if there are any serious problems with it security-wise, you could use OCLP.
Long-term (like 2-3 years from now), you might consider getting an actual server and installing TrueNAS. There's probably some way to install Backblaze and Resilio Sync on TrueNAS, but if not, use a different, secure OS. I used to run a Mac mini as a file server, and it was just too slow. So I upgraded in September 2021 to a temporary 1 TB server (which I'm now using for VMs), and then just last month built this insane 24 TB file server. And it's reliable, secure, and fast. Just something to think about for the long-term - but do not worry about this now.