TLS Internet Explorer compatibility

The TLS protocol is used to provide privacy and data integrity between two or more communicating computer applications. When secured by TLS, connections between a client and a server have one or more of the following properties:-

1. The connection is private
2. The identity of parties can be authenticated
3. The connection is reliable

Transportation layer came from Secure Socket Layer. A careful configuration of TLS will provide additional privacy-related properties like forwarding secrecy, prevent discloser of encryption keys etc.

Some of the TLS certificates do not support old Internet Explorer versions.

Impact

The impact include:-

• Renegotiation attack
• Downgrade attacks like Logjam and FREAK
• Cross-platform attacks like DROWN
• BEAST attack
• Breach attacks
• POODLE attacks

Mitigation / Precaution

This vulnerability can be fixed by:-

• Changing the TLS cipher for the users using old versions of Internet Explorer.

Written by

Prathap

Co-founder, Director

Prathap has around 20 years of experience and has worked on various projects in leading companies like Hitachi, Toshiba, Schneider Electric, ABB, Panasonic, and MicroFuzzy. His expertise lies in architecting, designing, and developing secure projects covering various aspects of software development, processes, and methodology.