What Is SSL?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. This protocol, designed by Netscape Communications Corp., is used to send encrypted HTTP (Web) transactions.

Seeing "https" in the URL box on your browser means SSL is being used to encrypt data as it travels from your browser to the server. This helps protect sensitive information--social security and credit card numbers, bank account balances, and other personal information--as it is sent. At the UW, STAR Online (an extension of the Student Telephone Assisted Registration system) uses SSL to secure selected transactions such as tuition account inquiry and address update.

More about SSL is at sitesearch.netscape.com/products/security/ssl/ on the Web. The Internet Engineering Task Force is working on a new Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol that is based on SSL.