[Ronin]

Are there any updates on this?

The forum runs on software from 2009 that has probably hundreds of easily accessible exploits.

They run http (meaning all the input like our log ins and passwords are sent to forums in plain text) and to be honest I'm suprised this forum is still up and hasn't been ransomwared. It's the equivalent of having your debit card pin written on the card in your wallet.

Are there any backups in case this happens?

There are plenty of time served forum members with decades of experience in IT which I'm sure would be happy to help out if needed.

Having the forums run on https would also mean the forums would not be all the way down on the google search results, so more users would register and use the forums. Most browsers these days mark http websites as unsecure which I'm sure turns off many potential members.

I also wouldn't mind chipping in for the new licenses and whatever's needed.

The risk of these forums (and all the knowledge freely shared between users) going down is very high and once it gets ransomed/hacked or whatever it may be too late to rebuild it.