What is Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) ?

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a combination of the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol with the SSL/TLS protocol to provide encryption and secure identification of the server. All online customers know that they should look for the https in the URL and the lock icon in their browser when they are making a transaction.

HTTPS connection are often used for payment transactions on the World Wide Web (WWW) and for sensitive transactions in corporate information systems.

Differences between normal HTTP and HTTPS :

1. HTTP urls begin with http:// but HTTPS urls begin with https://.

2. HTTP use port 80 by default but HTTPS urls port 443 by default.

3. HTTPS encrypts the data sends and received with SSL, while HTTP sends it all as plain text.

4. HTTP is insecure and is subject to main in the middle and eavesdropping attacks which let attackers gain access to website accounts and sensitive information. However, HTTPS is designed to check and prevent such attacks and is secure.

5. HTTP operates at the highest layer of the OSI Model, the Application layer; but HTTPS operates at a lower sublayer, encrypting an HTTP message prior to transmission and decrypting a message upon arrival.

6. HTTPS is not a separate protocol but HTTP over an encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection.