Secure surfing internet with https

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with the SSL/TLS protocol to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a network web server. HTTPS connections are often used for payment transactions on the World Wide Web and for sensitive transactions in corporate information systems. HTTPS should not be confused with Secure HTTP (S-HTTP) specified in RFC 2660.


Some site doesn't support https .Some service in some site doesn't support https too.


https://www.facebook.com
https://encrypted.google.com/webhp?hl=en
https://mail.google.com
https://www.google.com/reader/view/


some browser have extension that force https


for Google Chrome
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/obfehkohhfbooodomcfenbhaobpeddcl
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lgpkjjingioekjianemgdobchenebhek


for Firefox
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/06/encrypt-web-https-everywhere-firefox-extension but this extension isn't in the official firefox extension site so careful to install it.





The trust inherent in HTTPS is based on major certificate authorities that come pre-installed in browser software (this is equivalent to saying "I trust certificate authority (e.g. VeriSign/Microsoft/etc.) to tell me whom I should trust"). Therefore an HTTPS connection to a website can be trusted if and only if all of the following are true:
  1. The user trusts that their browser software correctly implements HTTPS with correctly pre-installed certificate authorities.
  2. The user trusts the certificate authority to vouch only for legitimate websites without misleading names.
  3. The website provides a valid certificate, which means it was signed by a trusted authority. (an invalid certificate shows a warning in most browsers)
  4. The certificate correctly identifies the website (e.g. visiting https://example and receiving a certificate for "Example Inc." and not anything else [see above]).
  5. Either the intervening hops on the Internet are trustworthy, or the user trusts the protocol's encryption layer (TLS or SSL) is unbreakable by an eavesdropper.

Browser integration

When connecting to a site with an invalid certificate, older browsers would present the user with a dialog box asking if they wanted to continue. Newer browsers display a warning across the entire window. Newer browsers also prominently display the site's security information in the address bar.
Extended validation certificates turn the address bar green in newer browsers. Most browsers also display a warning to the user when visiting a site that contains a mixture of encrypted and unencrypted content.
Most web browsers alert the user when visiting sites that have invalid security certificates. This example is from Firefox.

Difference from HTTP

As opposed to HTTP URLs that begin with "http://" and use port 80 by default, HTTPS URLs begin with "https://" and use port 443 by default.
HTTP is unsecured and is subject to man-in-the-middle and eavesdropping attacks, which can let attackers gain access to website accounts and sensitive information. HTTPS is designed to withstand such attacks and is considered secure against such attacks (with the exception of older deprecated versions of SSL).

[edit]Network layers

HTTP operates at the highest layer of the OSI Model, the Application layer; but the security protocol operates at a lower sublayer, encrypting an HTTP message prior to transmission and decrypting a message upon arrival. Strictly speaking, HTTPS is not a separate protocol, but refers to use of ordinary HTTP over an encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection.
Everything in the HTTP message is encrypted, including the headers, and the request/response load. With the exception of the possible CCA cryptographic attack described in limitations section below, the attacker can only know the fact that a connection is taking place between the two, known to him, parties; the domain name and IP addresses.

[edit]Server setup

To prepare a web server to accept HTTPS connections, the administrator must create a public key certificate for the web server. This certificate must be signed by a trusted certificate authority for the web browser to accept it. The authority certifies that the certificate holder is indeed the entity it claims to be. Web browsers are generally distributed with the signing certificates of major certificate authorities so that they can verify certificates signed by them.

[edit]Acquiring certificates

Authoritatively signed certificates may be free[3][4] or cost between US$13[5] and $1,500[6] per year.
Organizations may also run their own certificate authority, particularly if they are responsible for setting up browsers to access their own sites (for example, sites on a company intranet, or major universities). They can easily add copies of their own signing certificate to the trusted certificates distributed with the browser.
There also exists a peer-to-peer certificate authority, CACert.

[edit]Use as access control

The system can also be used for client authentication in order to limit access to a web server to authorized users. To do this, the site administrator typically creates a certificate for each user, a certificate that is loaded into his/her browser. Normally, that contains the name and e-mail address of the authorized user and is automatically checked by the server on each reconnect to verify the user's identity, potentially without even entering a password.


In case of compromised private key

A certificate may be revoked before it expires, for example because the secrecy of the private key has been compromised. Newer versions of popular browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox,[7]Opera,[8] and Internet Explorer on Windows Vista[9] implement the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) to verify that this is not the case. The browser sends the certificate's serial number to the certificate authority or its delegate via OCSP and the authority responds, telling the browser whether or not the certificate is still valid.[10]




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refer to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTPS



References

  1. ^ Peter Eckersley: Encrypt the Web with the HTTPS Everywhere Firefox Extension EFF blog, 17 June 2010
  2. ^ HTTPS Everywhere
  3. ^ "Free SSL Certificates from a Free Certificate Authority". sslshopper.com. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
  4. ^ Justin Fielding (2007-07-16). "Secure Outlook Web Access with (free) SSL: Part 1".TechRepublic. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
  5. ^ "SSL Certificate Services". Go Daddy. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  6. ^ "Secure Site Pro with EV". VeriSign. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  7. ^ "Mozilla Firefox Privacy Policy". Mozilla Foundation. 27 April 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  8. ^ "Opera 8 launched on FTP". Softpedia. 19 April 2005. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  9. ^ Lawrence, Eric (31 January 2006). "HTTPS Security Improvements in Internet Explorer 7".MSDN. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  10. ^ Myers, M; Ankney, R; Malpani, A; Galperin, S; Adams, C (June 1999). "Online Certificate Status Protocol - OCSP". Internet Engineering Task Force. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  11. ^ Pusep, Stanislaw (31 July 2008). "The Pirate Bay un-SSL". Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  12. ^ Apache FAQ: Why can't I use SSL with name-based/non-IP-based virtual hosts?
  13. ^ Lawrence, Eric (22 October 2005). "Upcoming HTTPS Improvements in Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2". Microsoft. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  14. ^ Server Name Indication (SNI)
  15. ^ Pierre, Julien. "Browser support for TLS server name indication" (2001-12-19). Bugzilla. Mozilla Foundation. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  16. ^ Pierre, Julien. "Mac OS X v10.5, 10.6: About the Parental Controls Internet content filter" (2010-03-30). Support. Apple, Inc.. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  17. ^ Walls, Colin (2005). Embedded software. pp. 344.
  18. ^ Rescorla, E (May 2000). "HTTP Over TLS". Internet Engineering Task Force. Retrieved 6 May 2009.


External links


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