Protocol

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer

The retired predecessor of TLS; the name lives on in product names such as OpenSSL and "SSL VPN".

SSL was the original web encryption protocol from the 1990s. Every version has known breaks and it has been replaced by TLS, but the name stuck: "SSL certificate" usually means a TLS certificate, and an "SSL VPN" is a remote-access VPN that runs over TLS in the browser or a client.

SSL in the news

OpenSSL 4.1.0: What’s new, what’s removed, and what’s still broken

Help Net Security7h agoAppSecNetwork

Fake WatchGuard VPN Site Steals Credentials

Huntress Blog12d agoNetworkIdentity

Building a certificate authority for the whole Internet

Cloudflare Blog (Security)26d agoNetwork

ProtocolTLS · Transport Layer SecurityThe encryption protocol behind HTTPS: it keeps traffic between two programs private and proves who the server is.
TechnologyVPN · Virtual private networkAn encrypted tunnel that puts a remote device on a private network, as if it were plugged in at the office.

Plain-language explainers written by SecurityTabs, matched to stories by name. All terms

SSL in the news

OpenSSL 4.1.0: What’s new, what’s removed, and what’s still broken

Fake WatchGuard VPN Site Steals Credentials

Building a certificate authority for the whole Internet

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