As of March 2020, the outdated and insecure TLS 1.0 and 1.1 are no longer supported by most browsers. At the end of December, we will disable TLS 1.1 on all web servers. TLS 1.1 dates back to 2006 and contains many weaknesses, making it insecure.
What exactly is TLS?
TLS stands for Transport Layer Security. It is a protocol for securing communications on the Internet by encrypting HTTP traffic. It is the successor to SSL. Older versions of TLS contain weaknesses that can be abused. TLS 1.2. is the new standard and WP Provider only supports TLS 1.2 and newer.
Why does WP Provider no longer support TLS 1.0 and 1.1?
TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1 have been declared End Of Life (EOL) as of June 30, 2018. WP Provider therefore chose to keep the old TLS 1.1 available for some time in addition to TLS 1.2 to give users time to update operating systems or switch to modern mail clients.
We are now also disabling the old TLS 1.1 because it is insecure and to comply with Department of Justice and Security guidelines.
What am I going to notice?
If you are using the latest version of your operating system you will not notice this. If you are using an old operating system like Windows XP , Windows Vista or OSX High Sierra or older you will not be able to visit your website or send emails via Applemail.
If you are using a very outdated web browser, that’s also going to cause problems. Not only will you be unable to use apple mail and visit certain websites, you will also be vulnerable because of the many leaks that are no longer being fixed. Therefore, it is recommended that you start looking at an alternative.
In the image below, you can see which versions of browsers can handle TLS 1.2 (green) and which cannot (red).
End of TLS 1.0 & 1.1 support:
| Browser | Date that support ends |
| Microsoft IE and Edge | First half of 2020 |
| Mozilla Firefox | March 2020 |
| Safari/Webkit | March 2020 |
| Google Chrome | January 2020 |
Mail programs and operating systems
The mail programs and operating systems listed below do not support TLS 1.2. So it is important that you update them if you want to use e-mail.
- Windows 8.1 or older
- Outlook 2013 or older
- Windows Live Mail (as far as we know, all versions)
- MacOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or older
- Apple Mail 9.3 or older
- Android KitKat (4.4) or older
- Some versions newer than Android KitKat also do not support TLS 1.2
- iOS version 9 or older
WP Provider uses TLS 1.3
WP Provider also supports TLS 1.3. TLS 1.3 is the latest TLS version and is now supported by almost all browsers.
Safe surfing
Internet criminals use leaks in software to penetrate computers, servers or to intercept Internet traffic. By keeping software up-to-date you close newly discovered leaks. This applies to software on computers, laptops, smartphones and also servers. WP Provider finds it important that you can safely use all services, such as your website and e-mail.
Some software has so many leaks or is no longer updated that it is better to uninstall or replace it. Consider the Windows XP operating system. But TLS 1.1 is also too old, so it is not responsible to use it any longer. That’s why its support has been discontinued.
Having trouble setting up mail?
If you are using an outdated Mac OSX version and cannot update it? Then use a mail client that does support the newer TLS versions such as Thunderbird.
