SSL

One of the many functions of SSL is providing for encrypted communications. Many attacks on SSL are designed to break the encryption by discovering the secret key used. Remember that SSL uses symmetric key cryptography to provide encryption.

Proving identity and securing the exchange of information has been an ongoing goal of the Internet community. Now that the Internet community includes not only people like you and me, but also companies, governments, and criminals, it is more important than ever to have these reassurances. SSL is the Secure Sockets Layer set of protocols. In general, it is a standard way to achieve a good level of security between a Web browser and a Web site. Actually, SSL can protect more than just Web surfing activity, but we will cover that as we go along.

Fear still keeps many people from making a purchase online. The fear might be that their credit card information will be stolen or their shopping habits will be monitored. The problem is that the fear is real. The explosive growth of the Internet over the past 10 years has created widespread dependence on communication protocols, which were not developed for privacy and security. The communication protocols of the Internet, known as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), were designed to allow computers to share information, not hide it from each other.

Cryptology is defined as the study of cryptography or cryptanalysis. Cryptography is simply the process of communicating secretly through the use of ciphers, and cryptanalysis is the process of cracking or deciphering such secret communications.