A Commonwealth of Virginia Website
What is TLS?
TLS stands for "Transport Layer Security." It is a protocol that provides privacy and data integrity between two communicating applications and is the most widely deployed security protocol used today. TLS is used for web browsers and other applications that require data to be securely exchanged over a network and ensures that a connection to a remote endpoint is the intended endpoint through encryption and endpoint identity verification. Client-server applications use the TLS protocol to communicate across a network in a way designed to prevent eavesdropping and tampering. There are known vulnerabilities associated with SSL 3.0/TLS 1.0 which allow adversaries to monitor/intercept traffic and decrypt secure transmissions. Updating to TLS 1.2 provides an enhanced level of encryption to protect our network.
How can I avoid a disruption?
You must transition to a browser that supports TLS 1.2. Please see tables below for browser information.
Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE)
Open Internet Explorer.
Click Alt-T and select Internet Options.
Select the Advanced tab.
In the "Security" section, locate and check Use TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2
Click OK.
Firefox
Open Firefox.
Type in "about:config" in the URL bar and press Enter.
Scroll down to "security.tls.version.max" and press Enter.
Set the value to 3.
Click OK.
Google Chrome
Open Google Chrome.
Click Alt-F and select Settings.
Scroll down and select Show advanced settings...
In the Network section, click Change proxy settings...
Select the "Advanced" tab.
In the "Security" section, locate and check Use TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2.
Click OK.
Opera
Open Opera.
Click Ctrl+F12.
Click Security.
Click Security Protocols...
Check Enable TLS 1.1 & TLS 1.2.
Click OK.
Click OK again.
Safari
There are no options for enabling SSL protocols. TLS 1.1 & 1.2 are automatically enabled, if you are using Safari version 7 or greater.