The goodbye to the protocols-of-date postponed: Chrome, Firefox, and Edge postpone the banishment of TLS 1.0/1.1 in the midst of the pandemic

In October 2018, less than two years, it was revealed that the major browsers it would support TLS 1.0, and TLS 1.1 in 2020. Responsible companies, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla, announced the goodbye.

These cryptographic protocols have become obsolete with the passing of the years not so much because of security issues known, but by their incompatibility with modern cryptographic algorithms, and, of course, the adoption of their developments. The time had come to leave them behind.

However, in a full withdrawal of support, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge have had to back up.

What are the reasons? Different apparently depending on who is asked, though the explanation of Mozilla can give clues: “We revert the change for an indeterminate period of time to allow better access to sites critical of government that share information COVID-19”. The coronavirus attacking again.

A dual responsibility

The removal of support for outdated versions of TLS because of the necessity of abandoning the old standard and adopt the more recent as a matter of safety. The idea was that if users were able to visit the websites that use them, such portals would decide to be updated.

The problem now is that websites dependent of public administrations and key to provide information in relation to the pandemic coronavirus using these protocols and to prevent indirectly, your access to them with the ability to disable TSL 1.0, and TLS 1.1 it would be dangerous. As well what made it clear from Mozilla in the launch of Firefox 74.

Microsoft and Google, in contrast, have not been so explicit. The first blamed the postponement of the change to the “circumstances of current global” and postponed for July in the case of Edge based on Chromium and for September in the case of the rest of your browsers.

Without giving more details, while recommending that “all organizations to stop the use of TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 as soon as possible.”

Google, for its part, I had planned the removal of the support of these protocols obsolete with the release of Chrome 81, initially planned for mid-march. However, it was not released.

The reason given, also related to the effects of the pandemic COVID-19, it has to do with its development

as they say. “Due to adjustments in the work schedules at this time, we are making a pause in the next releases of Chrome and Chrome OS”, explained after news that a large part of their workers had been sent to work from home with the goal of encouraging social distancing.

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The news

The goodbye to the protocols-of-date postponed: Chrome, Firefox, and Edge postpone the banishment of TLS 1.0/1.1 in the midst of the pandemic

it was originally published in

Engadget

by
Toni Castillo

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