Spark has warned Xtra Email customers that they may be facing outages and problems receiving Xtra mail if they're using out-of-date mail clients. The company is strongly recommending that customers should upgrade their operating systems and mail clients.
The company says that out-of-date and configurations can apply to the popular Windows XP with Outlook installed, as well as Macs using Outlook 2011 or older.
Spark goes on to state that upgrading will ensure security of both users and their contacts.
The company is also urging customers to take note of what is supported from a security perspective. Those that are unsure may need to consult their mail client vendor for more information.
Xtra mail supports:
- 1024 and 2048 bit AES ciphers
- TLS1.0 and higher products
Xtra mail does not support:
- SSL2 and SSL3, due to vulnerabilities
- RC4 cipher, due to vulnerabilities
Spark says that the RC4 is the strongest cipher that is natively supported in Windows XP. Any mail client that uses the native Windows security suite, such as Outlook, will no longer be able to connect.
Those that use their own security suites such as Thunderbird may still be able to connect if they support higher encryption standards.
Those accessing xtramail.co.nz through a web browser are still able to do so without any problems.
