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KB Article ID: 11
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Category: Web Site
Status: General
Subject: What is SSL?
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SSL is a protocol designed by Netscape Communications Corporation to provide secure communications on the Internet. SSL does three things:
SSL authenticates that the server you've connected to is the one it purports to be.
SSL also creates a secure communication channel by encrypting all communication between the user and the server.
In addition SSL conducts a cryptographic word count to ensure data integrity between the server and the user. The word count or checksum provides a count of the number of bytes in a document and ensures the exact number of bytes is transmitted and received. With SSL, even this checksum is encrypted so it cannot be modified. If a message is not received in its entirety, it is rejected and another copy of the message is sent automatically.
Keywords:
ssl
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encryption
Article created on Friday, June 28, 2002 by Sam
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