SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is a protocol used to secure communications between two computers over the Internet. It uses encryption to ensure that the data sent between the two computers is secure and cannot be intercepted by third parties.

SSL works by using a combination of public-key cryptography and symmetric-key cryptography. Public-key cryptography requires two keys, a public key and a private key, to encrypt and decrypt data. The public key is shared with the other computer and is used to encrypt the data that is sent. The private key is kept secret and is used to decrypt the data that is received.

Symmetric-key cryptography requires one key to both encrypt and decrypt the data. This key is known only to the two computers that are communicating and is used to both encrypt and decrypt the data that is sent between them.

To illustrate how SSL works, let’s take an example of a secure web page. When a user visits the page, their browser sends a request to the server hosting the page. The server then sends back an SSL Certificate, which contains the public key. The browser then uses the public key to encrypt the data it sends to the server. The server then uses its private key to decrypt the data. The data is then sent back to the browser, encrypted with the public key. The browser then uses the private key to decrypt the data and display the page.

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