diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index 2847e5a..dd07549 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -5,18 +5,17 @@ jobs:
   build:
     name: Build and Test
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: "!contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[ci skip]') && !contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[skip ci]')"
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
       - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
         with:
-          java-version: 11
+          java-version: 21
           distribution: 'temurin'
           cache: 'maven'
       - name: Cache SonarCloud packages
-        uses: actions/cache@v3
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
         with:
           path: ~/.sonar/cache
           key: ${{ runner.os }}-sonar
@@ -42,11 +41,9 @@ jobs:
           name: artifacts
           path: target/*.jar
       - name: Create Release
-        uses: actions/create-release@v1 # NOTE: action is unmaintained and repo archived
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
         if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CRYPTOBOT_RELEASE_TOKEN }} # release as "cryptobot"
         with:
-          tag_name: ${{ github.ref }}
-          release_name: Release ${{ github.ref }}
-          prerelease: true
\ No newline at end of file
+          prerelease: true
+          token: ${{ secrets.CRYPTOBOT_RELEASE_TOKEN }}
+          generate_release_notes: true
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yml b/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yml
index b2cb3f3..4286698 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yml
@@ -13,14 +13,13 @@ jobs:
   analyse:
     name: Analyse
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: "!contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[ci skip]') && !contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[skip ci]')"
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       with:
         fetch-depth: 2
     - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
       with:
-        java-version: 11
+        java-version: 21
         distribution: 'temurin'
         cache: 'maven'
     - name: Initialize CodeQL
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-central.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-central.yml
index 54681aa..afabe60 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-central.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-central.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ jobs:
           ref: "refs/tags/${{ github.event.inputs.tag }}"
       - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
         with:
-          java-version: 11
+          java-version: 21
           distribution: 'temurin'
           cache: 'maven'
           server-id: ossrh # Value of the distributionManagement/repository/id field of the pom.xml
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-github.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-github.yml
index d72d74c..be60dec 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-github.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-github.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
         with:
-          java-version: 11
+          java-version: 21
           distribution: 'temurin'
           cache: 'maven'
           gpg-private-key: ${{ secrets.RELEASES_GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }} # Value of the GPG private key to import
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 77cc84c..bb3efac 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -18,20 +18,20 @@
 		<maven.compiler.release>8</maven.compiler.release>
 
 		<!-- dependencies -->
-		<gson.version>2.8.9</gson.version>
-		<guava.version>32.0.0-jre</guava.version>
-		<siv-mode.version>1.4.4</siv-mode.version>
+		<gson.version>2.10.1</gson.version>
+		<guava.version>33.0.0-jre</guava.version>
+		<siv-mode.version>1.5.0</siv-mode.version>
 		<bouncycastle.version>1.70</bouncycastle.version>
-		<slf4j.version>1.7.35</slf4j.version>
+		<slf4j.version>2.0.11</slf4j.version>
 
 		<!-- test dependencies -->
 		<junit.jupiter.version>5.10.1</junit.jupiter.version>
-		<mockito.version>5.8.0</mockito.version>
+		<mockito.version>5.10.0</mockito.version>
 		<hamcrest.version>2.2</hamcrest.version>
 		<jmh.version>1.37</jmh.version>
 
 		<!-- build plugin dependencies -->
-		<dependency-check.version>9.0.7</dependency-check.version>
+		<dependency-check.version>9.0.9</dependency-check.version>
 		<jacoco.version>0.8.11</jacoco.version>
 		<nexus-staging.version>1.6.13</nexus-staging.version>
 	</properties>
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@
 			<plugin>
 				<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
 				<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-				<version>3.2.3</version>
+				<version>3.2.5</version>
 			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
 				<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>