| SSL Secure Sockets Layer
were developed by Netscape for transmitting private documents via
the Internet. SSL works by using a private key to encrypt data
that's transferred over the SSL connection. Both Netscape Navigator
and Internet Explorer support SSL, and many Web sites use the protocol
to obtain confidential user information, such as credit card numbers.
By convention, URLs that require an SSL connection start with https:
instead of http:.
Another protocol for transmitting data securely over the World
Wide Web is Secure HTTP (S-HTTP). Whereas SSL creates a secure
connection between a client and a server, over which any amount
of data can be sent securely, S-HTTP is designed to transmit
individual messages securely. SSL and S-HTTP, therefore, can
be seen as complementary rather than competing technologies.
Both protocols have been approved by the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF) as a standard. |