As of March 2020, the outdated and insecure TLS 1.0 and 1.1 are no longer supported by most browsers. We will disable TLS 1.1 on all web servers by the end of December. 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 exploited. 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’re using the latest version of your operating system you’re not going to notice any of this. If you do use an operating system that is too old such as Windows XP , Windows Vista or OSX High Sierra or older then you will not be able to visit your website with it, nor will you be able to send emails through Applemail.
If you’re using a very outdated web browser, that’s also going to cause problems. Not only can you no longer use apple mail and visit certain websites, you are also vulnerable because of the many leaks that are no longer being fixed. It is therefore 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 it 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 intercept Internet traffic. By keeping software up-to-date you close newly discovered leaks. That keeping up-to-date applies to software on computers, laptops, smartphones and also servers. WP Provider believes it is important that you can safely use all services, such as your website and email.
Some software has so many leaks or is no longer updated that it is better to remove or replace it. Consider the Windows XP operating system. But TLS 1.1 is also too old, so it is not justified to use it any longer. Therefore, its support has been discontinued.
Having trouble setting up mail?
If you are using an outdated Mac OSX version and can’t update it? Then use a mail client that does support the newer TLS versions such as Thunderbird.
