Transport Layer Security (TLS) is designed to provide privacy and data integrity for communicating applications.
The cryptographic protocol, which secures communications over a computer network, is an evolution of Netscape’s Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.
TLS secures communications between servers and web browsers. This means that sensitive information such as credit card numbers and passwords can be sent to the server without fear of interception.
How does TLS work?
The plain text that the visitor to the web site sends to the server is encrypted and then decrypted at the other end. This process remains entirely invisible to the user, who simply inputs the information as normal.
When TLS connections are correctly implemented it provides a private connection due to symmetric cryptography that is encrypting the transmitted data. Keys for this are created for each connection and are unique to it.
The generation of the key is based upon a shared secret, a piece of data that is known only to the parties involved, that is negotiated at the start of the session.
