Security News > 2020 > April > COVID-19 forces browser makers to continue supporting TLS 1.0

COVID-19 forces browser makers to continue supporting TLS 1.0
2020-04-02 09:52

In one of the strangest stories of the year, the COVID-19 virus has halted plans by major browsers to drop support for the ageing and insecure Transport Layer Security 1.0 and 1.1 protocols.

While a temporary delay, it's still an unexpected retreat for an industry which had showed unity in collectively deciding to banish TLS 1.0 and the lesser used TLS 1.1 by early 2020.

While TLS 1.2 and the recent 1.3 are now widely supported, versions 1.0 and 1.1 are now so old they've accumulated numerous weaknesses that render them insecure.

Ironically, this is the very issue that's dogged the phasing out of support for TLS 1.0 - the annoying fact that some websites that should know better haven't been turning off support, hence the need for browser makers to step in to do it from the client end.

Officially, the three browser makers mentioned in this article have all said they plan to revert to plan A and drop support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 by the late spring or summer.


News URL

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/04/02/covid-19-forces-browser-makers-to-continue-supporting-tls-1-0/