What is TLS?

TLS 1.3 is the latest version of Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol used for secure communication between clients and servers. It is considered more secure and faster than its predecessors (TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, and TLS 1.0).

What are we announcing?

Citrix NetScaler is the first Application Delivery Controller (ADC) vendor to announce support for TLS 1.3 IETF-Draft. We are inviting you to our beta program to test support for TLS 1.3 draft#21 on the client side connection. This is the latest version of the TLS 1.3 IETF,-Draft in NetScaler VPX (virtual appliance) and MPX (Hardware appliance)appliances.

With support for TLS 1.3, Citrix NetScaler can act as a proxy for legacy applications and allow client connections using TLS 1.3.

Why should you care?

TLS 1.3 comes with considerable improvements over TLS 1.2.

  1. Faster Connection — TLS 1.3 reduces round trips required between client and server for a successful handshake. 0-RTT (Zero Round Trip Time) feature of TLS 1.3 allows the client’s first request to be sent before the TLS connection is fully established, resulting in faster connection times. TLS 1.3 also allows a client to open multiple parallel connections by opening a fresh session ticket for each connection.
  2. Improved Security — Predecessors of TLS 1.3 were susceptible to attacks on vectors like padding oracle, protocol downgrade, etc. TLS 1.3 provides security and mitigate any threat from these attacks.

In addition to TLS 1.3 IETF-Draft support, this Beta build also supports TLS 1.3 ciphers, including TLS1.3_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256 (0x1303) on the same set of NetScaler VPX and MPX appliances.

How do I get access?

Get access to  the beta build by submitting your request here: https://podio.com/webforms/19812471/1342437.