Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a cryptographic protocol that is used to establish a secure, encrypted connection between a client and a server. It is designed to provide privacy and integrity between the two parties and to protect against tampering and interception of the communication.
SSL works by establishing a secure, encrypted connection between the client and server. When a client wants to communicate with a server, it sends a request to the server to initiate an SSL connection. If the server is configured to support SSL, it will respond with a certificate that contains its public key. The client will then use the public key to establish an encrypted connection with the server.
Once the connection is established, all communication between the client and server is encrypted and protected from tampering and interception. This helps to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the communication, and to protect against attacks such as man-in-the-middle attacks.
SSL is commonly used to secure communication over the internet, and it is often used in conjunction with other security protocols such as TLS (Transport Layer Security) to provide an additional layer of protection.