To maintain secure access to NeighborhoodScout services, your systems must support TLS 1.2 or higher. Below are instructions for the most common environments. These updates are simple and typically take just a few minutes to complete.



1. .NET Framework (Windows-based Applications)

Applies to: Windows apps using WebClient, HttpClient, or WebRequest
Goal: Ensure TLS 1.2 is used for secure HTTPS requests

Steps:

  • Open your application’s source code or startup configuration file.
  • Add the following line before any HTTPS request is made:

System.Net.ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = SecurityProtocolType.Tls12;

  • If you are using .NET 4.7 or later, it uses TLS 1.2 by default. No code changes may be necessary.

Important: If you are on an older version of the .NET Framework (4.5 or earlier), you should update to at least .NET Framework 4.6 or later for reliable TLS 1.2 support.



2. Java (Spring Boot, REST Clients, etc.)

Applies to: Java 7, 8, or later used in backend apps or integrations
Goal: Ensure your Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is using TLS 1.2

Steps:

  • If you're using Java 8 or later, TLS 1.2 is enabled by default — no changes required.
  • For Java 7, you must explicitly enable TLS 1.2.

Option 1: Via JVM arguments (preferred)
 Add this to your application’s startup command:

-Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.2

Option 2: In code (if needed)
 Set the protocol when creating SSL context:

SSLContext context = SSLContext.getInstance("TLSv1.2");

context.init(null, null, null);

HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultSSLSocketFactory(context.getSocketFactory());



3. cURL or Command-Line Clients

Applies to: Users calling our API using tools like cURL or Postman
Goal: Ensure TLS 1.2 is used when calling secure endpoints

Steps:

  • Most modern cURL installations already support TLS 1.2 or later.
  • To verify support, run:

curl --version

  • Make sure TLSv1.2 or TLSv1.3 is listed.
  • If needed, force TLS 1.2 in the request with:

curl --tlsv1.2 https://api.neighborhoodscout.com/your-endpoint

If clients are using an outdated version of cURL or OpenSSL, advise them to update to the latest version.