SSL and HTTPS | Difference Between them
Security on the internet has become of paramount importance in recent years to protect personal details or money transactions on certain websites, so if you are seeking to make yours secure you should understand HTTPS and SSL technologies used to make communication and transactions safer over the internet; both prevent data being read by third-parties when transmitting or receiving it on its way from source to destination.
SSL and HTTPS are frequently confused for each other, so let’s examine whether they’re truly interchangeable. HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP that browsers use for communication; it uses SSL/TLS for secure data delivery.
SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer and it is used to encrypt data. In this topic, we will discuss both HTTPS and SSL as encryption protocols to encrypt information, along with their differences and similarities. But first let’s understand their basics such as HTTP vs SSL protocols.
What Is HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
Hypertext Transfer Protocol, more commonly known by its acronym HTTP, is one of the world’s most frequently utilized protocols. It serves to transmit data between browsers and websites and allows viewers to navigate any webpage on the internet – or websites to interact with each other – using it enables websites such as new.com/ to connect over http rather than https; when entering domain names like new.com/ it automatically uses http protocol when accessing these domain names like new.com/,
thus telling your browser it connects over http protocol when entering any domain names with www.newcom/ indicating to connect over http rather than https as soon as entering any domain name such as new.com/ is entered, telling your browser which protocol connection method it should use.
Communication between client and server occurs via an HTTP Request and Http Response.
An HTTP request is an online communication request sent from a web browser to an application server for processing.
Once this request has been sent to a server, it processes and returns its response – also known as an HTTP response – back to its client.
HTTP requests and responses take the form of textual communication; anyone observing can read all information transmitted during this session, creating the potential risk that information could be altered or falsified by middlemen. To mitigate this threat, HTTPS was developed, providing an encrypted version of HTTP.
Advantages of HTTPS
Secure Communication: HTTPS ensures data transmission by creating an encrypted link between computers.
Data Integrity: HTTPS provides data integrity between browser and website by employing encryption and authentication, meaning hackers would not be able to read or modify it even if they gained access.
Privacy and Security: HTTPS ensures the privacy and security of websites by protecting them from being compromised or passively listening in on communication between browser and server.
Faster Performance: By speeding up data transfer by decreasing file sizes, HTTPS boosts speedy performance for faster results.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Search engines favor HTTPS as a ranking signal when producing search results, giving website owners excellent SEO (Search Engine Optimization) results when configuring their sites with HTTPS.
User Experience: HTTPS helps create an improved user experience by building trust among its visitors. A site not utilizing HTTP can be identified as unsafe and may make users abandon it altogether.
What is SSL?
Secure Sockets Layer, developed by Netscape in 1995, is an encryption-based internet security protocol which encrypts data used in conjunction with HTTP. When combined together they create an inherently more secure website – effectively changing HTTP to HTTPS!
This protocol is utilized to protect data over the internet.
SSL stands for secure socket layer (SSL). When communicating with websites that use SSL, a browser asks the web server for identification; after checking its certificate and accepting its authenticity, encrypted communication begins between browser and server.
Advantages of SSL
It is abbreviated as Secure Sockets Layer.
It is the first cryptography protocol.
It is used along with HTTP to convert it into HTTPS
The main aim of SSL is to provide security and encryption in data transmission.
There are three versions of SSL, which are SSL1.0, SSL 2.0, SSL 3.0.
Currently, it is considered deprecated and no longer in use. Instead, TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol is being used widely to provide data security for communication over the internet.
SSL Certificate
SSL certificates are small text files hosted on a Website’s Origin Server that allow it to switch over from HTTP protocol to HTTPS protocol. They contain information such as its public key and identity as well as any relevant details of its website’s activities and operations.
An SSL certificate contains information such as the following details:
This file allows a computer’s browser that attempts to connect with a web server can access and verify their public key for verification of identity purposes.
An SSL certificate contains this data: Domain for which certificate has been issued
Name, organization or device that received it; issued by certificate authority with digital signature and associated subdomains, issue date of certificate and expiration date are required information for an SSL Certificate to function correctly.
The Public Key:
SSL certificates employ public and private keys with long strings of characters used for encryption and decryption of data, respectively. Public-key encrypted information can only be decrypted using its associated private key; vice versa; also, private keys may be used by their owner to sign other digital documents with their signature verified using their associated public key.
Conclusion
HTTPS and SSL are inextricably linked; one enabling the other. HTTPS stands for “HTTP over SSL,” so when we configure an SSL certificate with our website, its transmission of data occurs via HTTPS – these technologies are most often utilized together (although TLS, the successor of SSL, is currently becoming increasingly prevalent).
