SSL Labs: Improved Elliptic Curve and TLS 1.2 detection

The latest version of the SSL assessment software running on SSL Labs features much better detection of the SSL servers that use Elliptic Curve cryptography, TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2. Windows Server 2008 leads when it comes to these technologies and Microsoft's test server (tls.woodgrovebank.com) demonstrates that very well. Sadly, there's currently no browser that can talk to the Windows Server 2008 in a way that uses all the capabilities that are on offer. Even IE8 has some of the high-end features disabled and gets some others wrong.

I must mention Adrian Dimcev, who pushed me to get this work done. He worked relentlessly to figure out the exact combinations of handshake bits (literally) that produce desired results. I've urged Adrian to describe his findings for everyone to read, and let's hope that he'll do that. In the meantime, his recent blog post provides a bunch of useful information on TLS 1.2.