Test and fix TLS 1.0 to TLS v1.2 for merchant non-compliance notice

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To keep your data safe, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has mandated a security upgrade impacting all merchants where web browsers can be used in the payment process. Acquirers and payment gateways have set various deadlines in advance of the required PCI TLS v1.2 Security Protocol Upgrade by  2018. Either hardware may need to be replaced or software updated.

Recently, multiple vulnerabilities have been uncovered. Criminals are using the vulnerabilities at massive levels over prior years. Security company Zscaler blocked an average of 8.4 million SSL/TLS-based malicious activities per day in the first half of 2017 for its customers on its Zscaler cloud platform. That’s why all merchants need to upgrade to the most current version of TLS (Version 1.2) and should do so as soon as possible. Because this is an absolute necessity, merchants are getting emails about hard stop dates; if not fixed, merchants will not be able to process transactions after the deadline.

TLS Deadlines vary by acquirer and payment gateway. Dates have been changing due to non-compliance so check with your partners.

  • Chase Paymentech, September 30, 2017.
  • Authorize.Net, February 28, 2018.
  • First Data varies by solution. Datawire will remove SSL v3, TLS v1.0, and TLS v1.1 on February 15th 2018.

TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 need to be disabled from browsers, servers and related applications. SSL 3.0 should have been disabled years ago.

Do not rely on server host companies or consultants to do this for you. It’s up to merchants to maintain PCI Compliance. If you get a notice of non-compliance from your acquirer and use a virtual terminal, test your browser below.

FREE Test SSL/TLS for Browser and Servers and updating TLS for card not present transactions:

Free SSL and TLS test from Qualys. https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/index.html.  If you get a YES next to TLS 1.0, SSL 3, or SSL 2, then hardening is needed.

Try updating your browser and then run the test again. If the browser is current, go to your web browser settings or preferences and disable SSL and TLS 1.0. Run the same test on your web site. If you get a yes, go to your host administration and disable in security settings.

What is TLS Security Protocol?

Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) are both frequently referred to as “SSL”. When you go to a web page and the URL is “https”, the S stands for secure, and the domain host has a security certificate installed and enabled on the web host. Websites use TLS to secure all communications between their servers and web browsers. For example, when a merchant logs into a virtual terminal using a web browser, or a customer makes a payment online via a hosted pay page or ecommerce shopping cart.

 

Christine Speedy, CenPOS authorized reseller, 954-942-0483. B2B cloud payments solutions and CenPOS enterprise cloud payment solutions expert. CenPOS is a merchant-centric, end-to-end payments engine that drives enterprise-class solutions for businesses, saving them time and money, while improving their customer engagement. CenPOS secure, cloud-based solution optimizes acceptance for all payment types across multiple channels without disrupting the merchant’s banking relationships.

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