ecommerce transactions take place in an open environment that cannot be trusted since the network is highly vulnerable to outside security threats. This network can be made secure with the help of cryptography. Implementing cryptography can hide content of electronic transactions, detect changes in electronic transactions and confirm the source of electronic transactions. Cryptography can be applied through encryption and digital signatures. Cryptography is an effective method of securing E-Commerce transactions that take place over the Internet.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a commonly used protocol used to encrypt messages between web browsers and web servers. It encrypts the datagrams of the Transport Layer protocols. SSL is also widely used by merchants to protect the consumer’s information during transmission, such as credit card numbers and other sensitive information. SSL is used to provide security and data integrity over the Internet and thus plays an important role. SSL has now become part of Transport Layer Security (TLS), which is an overall security protocol.
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a protocol that is used for securing the communications among the applications and their users on the Internet. During the communication between the server and the client, the Transport Layer Security ensures that no message
is tampered with and that no third party is able to eavesdrop. TLS consists of two layers: 1) TLS Record Protocol and 2) TLS Handshake Protocol. TLS Record Protocol provides connection security. TLS Handshake Protocol allows the authentication of server and the client, and the negotiation of an encryption algorithm and cryptographic keys, before the exchange of data.