Does Veracrypt need updates?

Veracrypt is an encryption program that lets users create containers to put their information into that requires a password to access. The version I have is 1.17 and I got it about six or seven years ago and have been using it ever since. I just discovered that the latest version is 1.25.9 and I was wondering if an update is warranted.

BTW, another site says the current version is 3.3, so I don't know which is right. What I have works fine, but I don't know what improvements have been made, or if a version that's 7 years newer than what I currently have which created the containers I currently have would be compatible with the newest version. That's why I hesitate to update. I just wanted to see what others here who are familiar with this program think.

Yes it needs to be updated.

VeraCrypt / Forums & VeraCrypt . GitHub are the two official sites (that I know of) where you'll find legitimate info on VC. You've no reason to fish around phony sites that may/do dish out malicious versions.

All your old containers should work just fine with the latest version. In fact, the compatibility goes all the way back to Truecrypt containers, if you have any. Any such drastic change would be intimated to the end users via version change notes (which you'll find in the links above) anyway. So, you have every reason to stay abreast on the official forums.

And, there have been more than a handful of changes since the version that you're on. A significant one being the ability to encypyt keys stored in RAM. Yo can read here:VeraCrypt / Forums /
Technical Topics: How does RAM Encryption work

BRAC said:

VeraCrypt / Forums & VeraCrypt . GitHub are the two official sites (that I know of) where you'll find legitimate info on VC. You've no reason to fish around phony sites that may/do dish out malicious versions.

All your old containers should work just fine with the latest version. In fact, the compatibility goes all the way back to Truecrypt containers, if you have any. Any such drastic change would be intimated to the end users via version change notes (which you'll find in the links above) anyway. So, you have every reason to stay abreast on the official forums.

And, there have been more than a handful of changes since the version that you're on. A significant one being the ability to encypyt keys stored in RAM. Yo can read here:VeraCrypt / Forums /
Technical Topics: How does RAM Encryption work

Fascinating! Thank you!