When I launched Chrome on Thursday, I saw something unexpected: While most users probably would have no idea what to make of this, I happened to know what it means– Chrome is warning me that the system configuration has instructed it to leak the secret keys it uses to encrypt and decrypt HTTPS traffic toContinue reading “Spying on HTTPS”
Tag Archives: tls
SSLVersionMin Policy returns to Chrome 66
Chrome 66, releasing to stable this week, again supports the SSLVersionMin policy that enables administrators to control the minimum version of TLS that Chrome is willing to negotiate with a server. If this policy is in effect and configured to permit, say, only TLS/1.2+ connections, attempting to connect to a site that only supports TLS/1.0Continue reading “SSLVersionMin Policy returns to Chrome 66”
Understanding the Limitations of HTTPS
A colleague recently forwarded me an article about the hazards of browsing on public WiFi with the question: “Doesn’t HTTPS fix this?” And the answer is, “Yes, generally.” As with most interesting questions, however, the complete answer is a bit more complicated. HTTPS is a powerful technology for helping secure the web; all websites should beContinue reading “Understanding the Limitations of HTTPS”
TLS Fallbacks are Dead
Just over 5 years ago, I wrote a blog post titled “Misbehaving HTTPS Servers Impair TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2.” In that post, I noted that enabling versions 1.1 and 1.2 of the TLS protocol in IE would cause some sites to load more slowly, or fail to load at all. Sites that failed toContinue reading “TLS Fallbacks are Dead”
Certificates Matter
Recently, my web host stopped supporting the FrontPage Server Extensions used by Microsoft Expression Web 4 for website publishing (FPSE is now out-of-support). FPSE allowed me to publish to my site over a HTTPS connection, helping keep my password safe and my uploaded files unmodified. Unfortunately, the alternative FTP transport is completely insecure–passwords and dataContinue reading “Certificates Matter”