MongoDB 4.4 introduces several safety and security enhancements, including Mirrored Reads, which reduces the impact of replica set elections by warming up secondary replicas with continuously mirrored reads; Resumable Initial Sync, which automatically resumes initial sync after transient network errors; Streamed topology changes, which stream cluster topology changes to drivers in real time; Faster client authentication, which improves network latency and reduces primary election impact; Time-Based Oplog Retention, which allows configuring oplog retention period by time; AWS IAM Authentication to MongoDB Atlas, which simplifies cloud-native security by reusing existing Amazon IAM credentials; TLS 1.3 support, which enhances encryption-in-motion requirements; OCSP Stapling, which confirms certificate validity directly with the CA; and a Kerberos Configuration Utility, which provides recommendations for common issues in MongoDB and Kerberos configuration.