Ssl

SSL

Abbreviation · Secure Sockets Layer · a cryptographic protocol that establishes an encrypted link between a server and a client

Definition

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide secure, encrypted communication between a web server and a browser — or between any two networked systems. When a website uses SSL, data transmitted between the user and the server is encrypted so that no one intercepting the traffic can read it. SSL is the technology behind the padlock icon in your browser and the HTTPS prefix in web addresses. Although SSL has technically been superseded by TLS — Transport Layer Security — the term SSL remains widely used to refer to this entire family of security protocols.

Origin

SSL was developed by Netscape Communications Corporation in the mid-1990s. Version 1.0 was never released publicly. SSL 2.0 appeared in 1995, followed quickly by SSL 3.0 in 1996. The protocol was critical to the early growth of e-commerce, online banking, and secure web use. In 1999, the Internet Engineering Task Force replaced SSL 3.0 with TLS 1.0 and has since released TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3. SSL itself is now considered deprecated and insecure, but the name has stuck so firmly in common usage that most developers, administrators, and users continue to say SSL when they mean TLS.