Basic HTML version of Foils prepared May 19 99

Foil 110 SSL from Netscape II

From Remarks on Internet and Java Security Basic Information Track Computational Science Course CPS616 -- Spring Semester 1999. by Geoffrey Fox, Mehmet Sen


These embedded keys allow Netscape Navigator to verify the legitimacy of arbitrary servers. See the Document Information dialog to inspect both the identity of a given server as well as the identity of the CA that issued the server its certificate.
SSL requires servers to have certificates issued by a Certificate Authority; Netscape Commerce Server includes a mechanism to easily acquire such a certificate.
Currently, Netscape Navigator does not include support for NNTP over SSL or application protocols other than HTTP; however, such support will be available soon.
Because HTTP+SSL (or "https") and HTTP are different protocols and typically reside on different ports (443 and 80, respectively), the same server system can run both secure and insecure HTTP servers simultaneously.
  • This means you can provide some information to all users using no security, and other information only securely, if you so choose. For instance, your "storefront" and merchandise catalog could be insecure, and your ordering and payment documents and forms could be secure.



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