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ACE Portal Users Must Make Changes to Browser by Sept 3rd to Avoid Interruption in Service

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing that it is making a security update to the ACE Secure Data Portal that will entail discontinuing the use of the SSL protocol while maintaining the use of the TLS protocol.

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(Federal regulations require that sensitive data be protected when being disseminated over the Internet. Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the government approved security mechanism to protect sensitive data during Internet transmission. Currently, ACE allows the secure socket layer (SSL) protocol in addition to TLS.)

ACE Portal Users Must Make Changes by Sept 3rd for Continued ACE Access

CBP advises users to follow the instructions below no later than Wednesday, September 2, 2009 to avoid interruption of service:

Users accessing ACE must have TLS enabled in their browser setting. To enable TLS on the browser, go to Tools/ Internet Options/ Advanced and make sure that the Use TLS 1.0 is checked." (See CBP's CSMS message for an attachment containing screen shots for these directions.)

(In June 2007, CBP issued an ABI administrative message stating that CBP was phasing out SSL and that users had to switch to TLS by September 14, 2007 for continued ACE access. CBP sources state that CBP did not implement the requirement then and is doing so now.)

(See ITT's Online Archives or 06/05/07 news, 07060505, for BP summary of the June 2007 ABI administrative message.)

CSMS 09-000294 (dated 08/25/09) available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17684&page=&srch_argv=09-000294&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby