Posts Tagged ‘TLS’

Enable TLS 1.2 Internet Explorer / Make TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 web sites work on IE howto

Monday, August 1st, 2016

Internet-Explorer-cannot-display-the-webpage-IE-error
 

Some corporate websites and web tools especially one in DMZ-ed internal corporation networks require an encryption of TLS 1.2 (Transport Layer of Security cryptographic protocol)   TLS 1.1 protocol   both of which are already insecure (prone to vulnerabilities).

Besides the TLS 1.2 browser requirements some corporate tool web interfaces like Firewall Opening request tools etc. are often are very limited in browser compitability and built to only work with certain versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer like leys say IE (Internet Explorer) 11.

TLS 1.2 is supported across IE 8, 9, 10 and 11, so sooner or later you might be forced to reconfigure your Internet Explorer to have enabled the disabled by OS install TLS 1.2 / 1.1.

For those unaware of what TLS (Transport Layer of Security) protocol is so to say the next generation encryption protocol after SSL (Secure Socket Layer) also both TLS and SSL terms are being inter-exchangably used when referring with encrypting traffic between point (host / device etc.) A and B by using a key and a specific cryptographic algorithm.
TLS is usually more used historically in Mail Servers, even though as I said some web tools are starting to use TLS as a substitute for the SSL certificate browser encryption or even in conjunction with it.
For those who want to dig a little bit further into What is TLS? – read on technet here.

I had to enable TLS on IE and I guess sooner others will need a way to enable TLS 1.2 on Internet Explorer, so here is how this is done:
 

Enable-Internet-Explorer-TLS1.2-TLS-1.1-internet-options-IE-screensho
 


    1. On the Internet Explorer Main Menu (press Alt + F to make menu field appear)
    Select Tools > Internet Options.

    2. In the Internet Options box, select the Advanced tab.

    3. In the Security category, uncheck Use SSL 3.0 (if necessery) and Check the ticks:

    Use TLS 1.0,
    Use TLS 1.1 and Use TLS 1.2 (if available).

    4. Click OK
   
     5. Finally Exit browser and start again IE.

 

Once browser is relaunched, the website URL that earlier used to be showing Internet Explorer cannot display the webpagre can't connect / missing website error message will start opening normally.

Note that TLS 1.2 and 1.1 is not supported in Mozilla Firefox older browser releases though it is supported properly in current latest FF releases >=4.2.

If you  have fresh new 4.2 Firefox browser and you want to make sure it is really supporting TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 encrpytion:

 

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste TLS and pause while the list is filtered

(3) If the security.tls.version.max preference is bolded and "user set" to a value other than 3, right-click > Reset the preference to restore the default value of 3

(4) If the security.tls.version.min preference is bolded and "user set" to a value other than 1, right-click > Reset the preference to restore the default value of 1

The values for these preferences mean:

1 => TLS 1.0 2 => TLS 1.1 3 => TLS 1.2


To get a more concrete and thorough information on the exact TLS / SSL cryptography cipher suits and protocol details supported by your browser check this link


N.B. ! TLS is by default disabled in many latest version browsers such as Opera, Safari etc.  in order to address the POODLE SSL / TLS cryptographic protocol vulnerability

Upgrade Ubuntu from 9.04 to latest Ubuntu

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Updating a version of Ubuntu version 9.04 to the latest stable release is actually very simple and BORING.

It takes some long time and a lot of clicking, however eventually, the upgrade to the latest Ubuntu will be at hand.
The whole upgrade philosophy to Upgrade an outdated Ubuntu distribution to the newest supported stable Ubuntu release is in a consequentual number of release to release upgrades.

Let’s say you’re running Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope and) you want to upgrade to Ubuntu 11.10 TLS
then you will have to to the following step by step upgrades;

Upgrade Ubuntu from;

  • Ubuntu 9.04 to Ubuntu 9.10
  • Ubuntu 9.10 to Ubuntu 10.04
  • Ubuntu 10.04 to Ubuntu 10.10
  • Ubuntu 10.10 to Ubuntu 11.04
  • Ubuntu 11.04 to Ubuntu 11.11

Now let’s start upgrading …
1. Upgrade Ubuntu 9.04 to Ubuntu 9.10

Press Alt+F2 and type:

update-manager -d

Update Manager Ubuntu

Press the Run Button afterwards to launch the command.
You will be prompted for your Linux administrator password, so type it in.

Next the command will launch the Update Manager . The update manager will show you all the available updates.

The Update Manager will show you the update options, it should say something like:

New distribution release ‘9.10’ is available

update manager ubuntu 9.10

Click Over the Update button and wait.

The Ubuntu update will went by by few steps:

1. Preparing Updates
2. Setting new software channels
3. Getting new packages
4. Installing the updates
5. Cleaning up
6. Restarting the computer

You will see further on a screen reading “Support for some applications ended”, on that screen simply press the Close button.

Further on you will be prompted with a windows reading:

Do you want to start the upgrade? You have to click over Start Upgrade button to finally begin with the upgrade process.
Getting new packages screen Ubuntu Update procedure

Now a prompt window will appearing asking you to reboot the system, when the prompt appears click over:

Restart Now

After the upgrade the new release of Ubuntu 9.10 will start booting up, and you will see a screen similar to the picture below:

Ubuntu 9.10 boot screen

Now as you have updated from Ubuntu 9.04 next step is to upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04

Now guess what you will have to upgrade the trivial quick update procedures once again.

Once again launch the Ubuntu Update Manager

System -> Administration -> Update Manager Now as you have updated from Ubuntu 9.04 next step is to upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 (LTS – Lucid Lynx)

Now guess what you will have to upgrade the trivial quick update procedures once again.

Once again launch the Ubuntu Update Manager

System -> Administration -> Update Manager

Now follow the above described procedure with update-manager -d

After repeating the few trivial steps you will have Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on your Desktop

Further on complete the trivial update steps with the update-manager to update to Ubuntu release 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat).

After having succesfully upgraded to version 10.10, now repeat the boring update procedures described in the beginning of the article to update to Ubuntu 11.04

Now as you should be with Ubuntu 11.04, upgrade once again with update-manager to Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal).

And ast a last, once again with the update-manager -d update following the instructions to Ubuntu 11.10.

I’m pretty sure this is one of my most boring articles ever …
It’s interesting fact that I learn once from a friend of mine about the Ubuntu distribution. The Ubuntu distribution has it’s versioning based on months and year whether a version is out for instance Ubuntu 9.04 means this Ubuntu release is released on (Month 04 (April), year 2009)), Ubuntu 11.10 Means this distribution is released in (year 2011, month 10 (October)).