SSL “ess ess ell”

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a cryptographic protocol that provides secure communications on the Internet through a system of encryption and certificate verification. Similar to Internet Protocol Security (IPsec), SSL offers secure communication, but they operate at different layers – SSL typically at the application layer, and IPSEC at the network layer. SSL, specifically older versions such as SSL 2.0 and 3.0, are now considered deprecated due to known security vulnerabilities. SSL was succeeded by Transport Layer Security (TLS), and while technically different, the terms SSL and TLS are often used interchangeably in practice, frequently referred to collectively as SSL/TLS.