Image Courtesy: TheWindowsBulletin.com.

Microsoft today in a blog post announced that it is going to end support for the Transport Layer Security or TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in supported versions of its Windows 10 browser Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11.

The company announced that it will be ending support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in the first half of the year 2020. This change will result in the company providing more secure connections and safe browsing for everyone.

Microsoft made this announcement just before the 20th anniversary of TLS 1.0 which falls on January 19th next year, when the inaugural version of the protocol that encrypts and authenticates secure connections was introduced.

Over the period of 20 years, TLS versions have seen many improvements and have grown into becoming more advanced. The latest version 1.3 is currently under development for the Microsoft Edge browser and its release would mark the end of support for previous versions 1.0 and 1.1 of TLS.

“Two decades is a long time for a security technology to stand unmodified. While we aren’t aware of significant vulnerabilities with our up-to-date implementations of TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1, vulnerable third-party implementations do exist. Moving to newer versions helps ensure a more secure Web for everyone”, explains Kyle Pflug, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Edge.

Kyle Pflug also says that most of the sites will not be impacted with this change since almost 94 percent of them have already moved to newer versions of the protocol and now support the TLS 1.2 version.

To be able to provide users with sufficient time, Microsoft has made the announcement early since its provide sufficient time for the remaining sites to upgrade to the new version. You can test the impact of this change today by opening the Internet Options Control Panel in Windows and unchecking the “Use TLS 1.0” and “Use TLS 1.1” options (under Advanced -> Security).

About The Author

Akshay Waghray

Akshay Waghray, who holds a degree in Computer Science, was a former technology news reporter for Windows Latest and his area of expertise include Windows. Articles contributed by Akshay have been referred by big publications such as TechRadar, XDA Developers, Future Inc, Purge, and others over the years. At Windows Latest, Akshay has written and edited thousands of articles using his decades long experience with Windows Server and Windows Update for Business.