SSLrelated

SSLrelated is a term used to describe technologies, protocols, and practices related to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and its successors that secure communications over networks. SSL was developed in the 1990s; SSL 3.0 evolved into Transport Layer Security (TLS), which is now the standard. TLS 1.3, standardized by IETF, emphasizes privacy and performance, removing many legacy features.

In practice, SSL/TLS is used to protect data in transit for HTTPS, mail via STARTTLS, and other protocols like VPNs. Core concepts include X.509 certificates issued by trusted certificate authorities, a certificate chain, and public-key cryptography used during a handshake to establish a shared symmetric session key. The resulting encrypted channel provides confidentiality, integrity, and server authentication; mutual authentication may also be used.

Deployment considerations focus on strong configurations: enabling TLS 1.2 or 1.3, avoiding legacy protocols and weak ciphers, and using modern cipher suites such as AES-GCM or ChaCha20-Poly1305. Administrators implement best practices including proper certificate management, certificate transparency, OCSP stapling, and HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to promote secure connections.

Security history includes notable vulnerabilities that shaped practice, such as POODLE, BEAST, and Heartbleed, leading to stricter requirements and rapid patching. Standards are maintained by the IETF TLS Working Group, with RFCs for specific versions (for example RFC 5246 for TLS 1.2 and RFC 8446 for TLS 1.3).

Overall, SSLrelated encompasses the tools, standards, and practices used to achieve secure, authenticated, and encrypted network communication in modern computing.