Applicants who use custom third-party software results to connect to EDGAR should know that SEC will upgrades the ciphers it supports in its Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption protocol on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022.

TLS relies on cipher sets to encrypt and authenticate data. These cipher sets, or biographies, are tweaked from time to time to improve effectiveness and security. Older cipher profiles support outdated and weak ciphers. SEC prefers the use of newer, stronger cipher biographies that are compatible with all current web browsers.