Network Security, Security Strategy, Plan, Budget

Google plans to disable support for SSLv3, RC4

Citing a long history of problems in both products, Google announced that it will disable support for Secure Sockets Layer Version 3 (SSLv3) and Rivest Cipher 4 (RC4).

The tech firm will begin phasing out support on its front end servers and eventually across all of its products including Chrome and Android starting in the medium term, according to a Sept. 17 blog post.

Clients and websites that still use RC4 won't automatically stop working unless RC4 is the only cryptography supported. But, clients and servers that use SSLv3 will run into problems once support is disabled.

Google also released suggested minimum standards for Transport Layer Security (TLS) clients to reduce the load on its servers caused by the deprecation of outdated cryptography, the blog said. Devices meeting these requirements should function until 2020 without changes to their TSL configurations.

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