

The server usually then provides identification in the form of a digital certificate.

From this list, the server picks a cipher and hash function that it also supports and notifies the client of the decision.The handshake begins when a client connects to a TLS-enabled server requesting a secure connection and the client presents a list of supported cipher suites ( ciphers and hash functions).During this handshake, the client and server agree on various parameters used to establish the connection's security: The protocols use a handshake with an asymmetric cipher to establish not only cipher settings but also a session-specific shared key with which further communication is encrypted using a symmetric cipher. Once the client and server have agreed to use TLS, they negotiate a stateful connection by using a handshaking procedure (see § TLS handshake). Another mechanism is to make a protocol-specific STARTTLS request to the server to switch the connection to TLS – for example, when using the mail and news protocols. Port 80 is typically used for unencrypted HTTP traffic while port 443 is the common port used for encrypted HTTPS traffic. One of the main ways of achieving this is to use a different port number for TLS connections. Since applications can communicate either with or without TLS (or SSL), it is necessary for the client to request that the server set up a TLS connection. TLS builds on the now-deprecated SSL ( Secure Sockets Layer) specifications (1994, 1995, 1996) developed by Netscape Communications for adding the HTTPS protocol to their Navigator web browser.Ĭlient-server applications use the TLS protocol to communicate across a network in a way designed to prevent eavesdropping and tampering. TLS is a proposed Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard, first defined in 1999, and the current version is TLS 1.3, defined in August 2018. In technical writing, references to " (D)TLS" are often seen when it applies to both versions. The closely related Datagram Transport Layer Security ( DTLS) is a communications protocol that provides security to datagram-based applications. It runs in the presentation layer and is itself composed of two layers: the TLS record and the TLS handshake protocols. The TLS protocol aims primarily to provide security, including privacy (confidentiality), integrity, and authenticity through the use of cryptography, such as the use of certificates, between two or more communicating computer applications. The protocol is widely used in applications such as email, instant messaging, and voice over IP, but its use in securing HTTPS remains the most publicly visible. Transport Layer Security ( TLS) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network.
