What You Will Need to Know About TLS 1.2 and SHA-2 Security Requirements


As of January 2018, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has mandated that all merchants and their clients have to be updated to TLS 1.2 and SHA-2 encryption standards to accept and process credit cards. Failure to switch won't result in a reversal of reliability, but it will lead to a complete disruption of service.

Who's the NIST?

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is encharged by the U.S. government to create, set and enforce Internet security protocols. When security protocols are updated or created by the NIST, they are adopted by government institutions and then followed by public companies.

What's TLS 1.2 and SHA-2?

Transport Layer Security (TLS) and the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) are the principal tools and protocols for encryption security. The industry standard from 1999 to 2017 has been TLS 1 and SHA-1. In this time period, every merchant service provider had to provide services and products up to TLS 1 and SHA-1 criteria. With numerous high-profile attacks in the last few decades, the NIST has decided that the previous data encryption standards no longer match their level of security. From this, the NIST has upgraded its own encryption security protocols to TLS 1.2 and SHA-2. In doing this, every merchant and client must now upgrade the way that they accept credit cards to meet these criteria.

What does this mean for my company?

Deadlines for TLS 1.2 and SHA-2 compliance are subject to every merchant service provider but has to be completed by June 30, 2018. As a company owner, existing or new, the responsibility is on you to provide your clients with methods of payment which fulfill these encryption standards. That means using the appropriate encrypted components, supplied by a trusted and approved merchant supplier. Typically, this may also require you to upgrade your POS software.


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