2 min Security

Microsoft removes TLS 1.0/1.1 from Windows, with possible negative effects

Microsoft removes TLS 1.0/1.1 from Windows, with possible negative effects

Microsoft is soon going to remove some old versions of the security protocol TLS from Windows. Upcoming versions of the operating system will then no longer have TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 by default. This could affect the operation of (business) applications.

According to the tech giant, removing the default presence in Windows of these versions of the encryption protocol could affect the functionality of other software. This could potentially affect business users especially. TLS is an encryption protocol for communication between clients and servers.

List of affected applications

The tech giant therefore recently published a list of applications for which it expects the removal of standard availability to lead to potential problems.

SQL Server is among those at the top, specifically the 2012, 201 and 2016 editions. SQL Server 2008, itself no longer supported by Microsoft, still has support for TLS 2.0.

Also on the list is version 5.1.7 of Apple’s Safari Web browser for Windows systems as well as several security applications.

Past tense

The reason for removing the TLS 1.0 and 1.1 versions is that, according to Microsoft, these versions have seen little use in recent years. In addition, these versions have long since been replaced by TLS versions 1.2 and 1.3. Current TLS implementations would otherwise always try to use the latest version of the protocol.

Windows Insiders will face the default disappearance of the aforementioned TLS protocol versions as early as this month. Other Windows releases will follow after that.

However, all releases do get the option to re-enable TLS 1.0 and 1.1. According to the tech giant, this should only be applied as a “last resort” choice. Support for these old versions may disappear altogether in the future.

The versions in question have already been previously deactivated in Edge and Internet Explorer. In Chromium, the protocol versions from build 84 onwards are missing.

Also read: WordPad soon to be discontinued in Windows