SECURE SOCKETS LAYER (SSL) - AN INTRODUCTION

In the OSI model a reference model for effective communication we find a layer named transport layer. Just like a physical layer (where viruses attack normally) transport layer also need some sort of security because transport layer is responsible for transmission of data.


So what actually makes transport layer to make the transmission secure and to protect the data from any intruder.


Have you ever noticed that when you visit some website it starts with http:// and whenever you visit some sort of money transfer and other important websites you find https:// point is clear https means a secure communication it means that your data that transfer from this connection secure by using some cryptography techniques.



SSL or secure sockets layer are cryptographic protocols that provide secure communication over the Internet. So what actually a cryptography is " Cryptography is a science of secrete communication".
SSL uses two keys to encrypt data − a public key known to everyone and a private or secret key known only to the recipient of the message.


                                                         HTTP VS HTTPS

The above picture shows that when ALICE sends the confidential information over insecure channel that there is a chance to sniff this confidential information (it might be a credit card information or may be your password etc). So the point is that an attacker can easily sniff this data and can easily read, understand and use for illegal activities because the data transfer in plain text regardless of any encryption it is simply a HTTP connection.

 

Now consider the second picture when an user send some sort of information over secure channel means if someone using HTTPS than the data first encrypt by using cryptography technique than it sends over channel, so in this case if someone sniff this data than he/she not able to understand it.


The above broad picture has clearly shows that HTTPS is secure, but how HTTPS is secure? Because it uses secure sockets layer (SSL). A website can implement HTTPS by purchasing an SSL Certificate.

Where there's a will there's a way. By following this amazing quote some researcher has discovered some ways to crack/hack SSL certificate too. To hack SSL certificate we will post an article later on.