How does ProVide protect against a FREAK attack?

ProVide is already protected against the FREAK attack. The weak export-grade cipher responsible for FREAK, RSA-RC4-MD5-EXPORT, was removed from ProVide’s default cipher list in version 10.5. If you’re on 10.5 or later and using the standard cipher settings, ProVide no longer offers that cipher, so there’s nothing you need to configure.

FREAK (Factoring RSA Export Keys) is a man-in-the-middle attack that tries to downgrade an SSL/TLS connection to weak 1990s “export-grade” cryptography. Removing the export cipher from ProVide’s defaults closes that door and makes the server more secure.

Make sure you’re protected

1. Update ProVide to version 10.5 or later. The fix only applies from 10.5 onwards. If you use the standard cipher settings in Settings.ini, the old defaults are automatically replaced with the new, more secure defaults when you restart ProVide after updating.
2. If you want to confirm the change has taken effect, check Settings.ini.

How to check that the change has taken place

1. Find where your accounts and settings are stored:
   • If ProVide runs as a system service, they’re in the same folder as the ProVide executable (usually under Program Files).
   • If ProVide isn’t running as a system service, they’re in %APPDATA% under ProVide.
2. Open Settings.ini and look at the [FTPS Ciphers] and [HTTPS Ciphers] sections. Confirm that the cipher RSA-RC4-MD5-EXPORT has been removed.

If that cipher is gone from both sections, your server is no longer offering the export-grade cipher that FREAK relies on.