What is TLS?
Table of Contents
- What is Transport Layer Security (TLS)?
- What’s the difference between TLS and SSL?
- What’s the difference between TLS and HTTPS?
- Why should you use TLS?
- How does TLS work?
What is Transport Layer Security (TLS)?
Transport Layer Security, or TLS, is a widely adopted security protocol designed to facilitate privacy and data security for communications over the Internet. A primary use case of TLS is encrypting the communication between web applications and servers, such as web browsers loading a website. TLS can also be used to encrypt other communications such as email, messaging, and voice over IP (VOIP). In this article we will focus on the role of TLS in web application security.
TLS was proposed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), an international standards organization, and the first version of the protocol was published in 1999. The most recent version is TLS 1.3, which was published in 2018.
What’s the difference between TLS and SSL?
TLS evolved from a previous encryption protocol called Secure Socket Layer (SSL), which was developed by Netscape. TLS version 1.0 actually began development as SSL version 3.1, but the name of the protocol was changed before publication in order to indicate that it was no longer associated with Netscape. Because of this history, the terms TLS and SSL are sometimes used interchangeably.
What’s the difference between TLS and HTTPS?
HTTPS is an implementation of TLS encryption on top of the HTTP protocol, which is used by all websites as well as some other web services. Any website that uses HTTPS is therefore employing TLS encryption.
Why should you use TLS?
TLS encryption can help protect web applications from attacks such as data breaches, and DDoS attacks. Additionally, TLS-protected HTTPS is quickly becoming a standard practice for websites. For example, the Google Chrome browser is cracking down on non-HTTPS sites, and everyday Internet users are starting to become more wary of websites that don’t feature the HTTPS padlock icon.
How does TLS work?
TLS can be used on top of a transport-layer security protocol like TCP. There are three main components to TLS: Encryption, Authentication, and Integrity.
- Encryption: hides the data being transferred from third parties.
- Authentication: ensures that the parties exchanging information are who they claim to be.
- Integrity: verifies that the data has not been forged or tampered with.
The handshake also handles authentication, which usually consists of the server proving its identity to the client. This is done using public keys. Public keys are encryption keys that use one-way encryption, meaning that anyone can unscramble data encrypted with the private key to ensure its authenticity, but only the original sender can encrypt data with the private key.
Once data is encrypted and authenticated, it is then signed with a message authentication code (MAC). The recipient can then verify the MAC to ensure the integrity of the data. This is kind of like the tamper-proof foil found on a bottle of aspirin; the consumer knows no one has tampered with their medicine because the foil is intact when they purchase it.
GROW YOUR BUSINESS WITH GK WEB AGENCY MARKETING
As Australia’s premier digital marketing agency, GK Web Agency has a reputation for delivering marketing that works. We make the web with an team of digital marketing experts. So if you’re looking to grow your business with a stellar marketing strategy, reach out to us! We’d love to chat with you about how we can take your marketing to the next level.
