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Jessica howe
Jessica howe

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How to Check the TLS Version of your Website? Steps to Know

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Introduction

The Secure Sockets Layer, SSL, has evolved into Transport Layer Security or TLS and is essential for the establishment of secure connections between web browsers and servers.

A website owner should remember their TLS version to ensure the best protection of the website furthered by enhanced performance. In this guide, we will then look at several ways that you can use to check the TLS version of your website so that you can determine the security standard of your site.

Ways to Check Website TLS Version

There are several ways to check the TLS version of your website:

Using Online Tools:

  • Go To SSL Labs Server Test (https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/).
  • Visit the website you are testing, paste the URL of your website, and wait for the analysis report to show up.
  • Reading the “Protocols” part in the results you can find supported TLS versions.

Browser Developer Tools:

Load your website in a current browser that is either Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari.

To open Developer Tools press F12 on your keyboard.

For Chrome, click on the ‘Security’ tab while for Firefox go to the ‘Network’ tab.

Refresh the page and SERPS will show the TLS version in connection details.

Using Command Line Tools:

Use OpenSSL (available on most Unix-based systems) and run below command: openssl s_client -connect yourwebsite. com:443 -tls1_2

You need to use ‘yourwebsite.com’ with your domain and try different TLS versions (tls1, tls1_1, tls1_2, tls1_3).

Important: When checking your website’s TLS version, it’s important to understand what you’re looking for:

TLS 1. 0 and 1. 1: These versions were released in 1999 and 2006, and they are now old and vulnerable to attacks.
TLS 1. 2: This version was released in 2008 and can be now found in most applications, and it is considered to be secure.
TLS 1. 3: This came out in 2018, and it is the newest version, more secure and performs better than the previous version.

From the point of view of ensuring security, ideally, your website should support TLS 1. 2 and 1. 3 in order to meet the highest level of security and compatibility.

Steps to Check TLS Version of Website

Follow these steps to check your website’s TLS version:

Prepare Your Browser:

The strongest recommendation is to work in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Safari with its latest versions.

You need to clear the browser cache if you do not want to review the results that are stored in the cache memory.

Visit Your Website:

Type ‘https://’ added to the beginning of your domain to make sure that you are in the correct secured section.

Check the Security Indicator:

The first way of checking the security is to find the padlock icon at the lower end of the address bar.
You can click it to find some basic information about security.

Use Developer Tools:

To access the Developer Tools, you may use your mouse and right-click on the webpage and then click “Inspect” or you can use your keyboard and press the F12 key.

On Chrome go to the “Security” tab, on Firefox go to the “Network” tab.

Connect to the site and search for the words “Protocol” or “Version” in the connection details.

Analyze the Results:

If your browser shows “TLS 1. 2” or “TLS 1. 3”, then your website is safely operating on the latest security protocol.

If it contains the earlier versions such as the ‘TLS 1. 0’ or the ‘TLS 1. 1’, then, it would be advisable to upgrade the server configurations.

Conclusion

It is always important to conduct periodic checks of your website’s TLS version in order to ensure optimal security on the internet. By following these methods, you can also guarantee that your site is configured to use the latest TLS protocols and make your sites more secure from the possible threats out there.

CheapSSLWEB is the best place for getting all types of SSL/TLS and professional advice to apply them properly. We offer various types of SSL certificates that are available for you to secure your site in the best way possible. Check out the products and protect your online identity using the best TLS versions.

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