What is HTTPS?
Tech lingo can be more than a little confusing, but, luckily, Solution Builder is more than happy to fill you in on the basics (if you have more advanced questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!). Over the next few weeks, our blog will be covering various words and phrases frequently encountered in today’s technologically-advanced world, helping you gain the knowledge required to become a tech-savvy small business owner. In this Tech Tuesday post, we are going to explore Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, or HTTPS.
What is HTTPS? Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is, at its most rudimentary, a secure way for data to be transferred between a web browser (the user) and a web server, identifiable by the prefix “https://” in the address bar of a web browser. It layers TLS/SSL (Transport Layer Security/Secure Sockets Layer) certificates, which are digital certificates that verify the identity of the server, over the original HTTP protocol, providing encryption-based security for web browsers. The original HTTP protocol did not include any such safety measures. With HTTPS, data is encrypted as it transfers from the browser to the server and vice versa in order to make the transaction more secure. Different web browsers will signal whether or not a given website utilizes HTTPS in different ways; Google Chrome, for example, uses a green padlock on the left side of the address bar to indicate that the webpage the user is visiting has been certified secure by HTTPS.
The purpose of Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is mainly to authenticate the website a user is trying to access. It provides security for any data that is exchanged between the user and the website, requiring a third party to sign digital certificates within the server. While browsing the internet, you may have unexpectedly seen a warning page when trying to access a certain website; this is the HTTPS in action. In that situation, the requirements for HTTPS to authenticate the website were not met, and the browser immediately warned you that the site may possibly not be secure, giving you the option to leave the site before any damage can be done.
If you have further questions about Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure or are interested in hearing more about how Solution Builder can help you achieve your unique business goals, please contact us today.