What is TLS? The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol is the primary method for ensuring the security of communications across the web. Whilst the original design goal of TLS was to encrypt HTTP traffic it can also be employed on top of other low-level transport protocols.
Why Is TLS 1.1 Being End-of-Lifed?
The TLS 1.1 specification was defined in 2006 however it is now no longer considered secure. In 2020, vendors such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla discontinued support for TLS 1.1 in popular web browsers like Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
More up to date versions such as TLS 1.2 and 1.3 are recommended.
How Is TLS Used in Terminal Emulation?
Despite being largely replaced by SSH for general purpose applications the telnet protocol is still in demand for various legacy systems such as those requiring TN3270 or TN5250 sessions. Telnet is, of course, an inherently insecure protocol and lacks any form of data encryption. Extensions to the otherwise insecure Telnet protocol implement TLS security and it’s here that TLS has relevance for terminal emulation applications.
Action Required
NO ACTION IS REQUIRED by Turbosoft customers.
Legacy host systems which require Telnet and TLS 1.1 will continue to be supported.
TLS 1.1 will continue to be supported in Turbosoft terminal emulation products for the foreseeable future.
More secure versions of TLS are supported in Turbosoft products.
Turbosoft products support TLS 1.1, TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3. For example, in our Windows terminal emulator TTWin 4, TLS 1.2 is enabled by default. Users requiring a different protocol simply need to adjust their configuration options.
Refer to product manuals and in-program help for configuring TLS or contact Turbosoft for more information.