What Does SSL Mean?

Secure Sockets Layer

Fun Facts

• SSL was first developed by Netscape in the mid-1990s as a way to secure online transactions.
• The first version of SSL was vulnerable to security attacks, leading to the development of more secure versions such as SSL 2.0 and SSL 3.0.
• SSL is now considered an outdated security protocol and has been replaced by TLS, but the term SSL is still commonly used to refer to any security protocol used to encrypt online communication.

Examples

• When you visit a website that starts with 'https' instead of 'http,' that means that the site is using SSL to encrypt communication between your browser and the website's server.
• SSL is also used in email communication to encrypt messages and attachments, protecting them from being intercepted by hackers.

Variations

• TLS: Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the successor to SSL and is now the preferred security protocol for web communication.
• HTTPS: Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a variation of the HTTP protocol that uses SSL or TLS to encrypt communication between web servers and browsers.

Related Acronyms and Abbreviations

• HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the primary protocol used for transferring data over the internet.
• FTP: File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a protocol used for transferring files between computers on a network.
• SSH: Secure Shell (SSH) is a protocol used for secure remote access to a computer or server.
• VPN: Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a technology used to establish a secure and encrypted connection between a user's device and a private network, such as a corporate network or the internet.

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