What Is HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)?

PKI Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟Introduction of HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)

∟What Is HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)?

This section describes what is HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) - A communication protocol that uses the HTTP and the SSL/TLS protocols to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a Web server.

What Is HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)? HTTPS is a communication protocol that uses the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and the SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security) protocols to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a Web server.

HTTPS has two important security related elements:

Web server authentication - The browser ensures the identity of the Web server by validation the server's certificate against the certificate of the CA (Certificate Authority).
Communication privacy - The browser uses the public key included in the server's certificate to encrypt a secret key to server. All data exchanged between the server and the browser will be encrypted with the secret key.

When you visit a Website and you see the Web address starting with "https://...", you know that the Website uses HTTPS. If you trust your browser and trust the CA, you can trust the HTTPS communication and exchange private information with the Website without any security concerns.