The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security(TLS) protocols form the foundation for e-commerce security on the World Wide Web, verifying the authenticity of Web sites, encrypting the transfer of sensitive data, and ensuring the integrity of information exchanged. Now-for the first time the details of these critical security protocols are available in a complete, clear, and concise reference. SSL and TLS Essentials provides complete documentation of the SSL and TLS protocols, including advanced and proprietary extensions never before published. The book thoroughly covers the protocols in operation, including the contents of their messages, message formats, and the cryptographic calculations used to construct them. The text also includes an introduction to cryptography and an explanation of X.509 public key certificates. Stephen Thomas, author of IPng and the TCP/IP Protocols, presents this complex material in a clear and reader-friendly manner. The book includes more than 80 figures and illustrations to supplement its text, and it describes SSL in the context of real-world, practical applications. Readers will immediately understand not only the academic principles behind he security protocols, but how those principles apply to their own network security challenges.

The book includes:
* Full details of Netscape's SSL and the IETF's TLS protocols, with differences between the two clearl highlighted and explained
* A concise tutorial in cryptography
* Complete coverage of Netscape's International Step-Up and Microsoft's Server Gated Cryptography implementations
* A description of X.509 public key certificates
* Details on implementing backwards compatibility among previous versions of SSL and TLS
* A thorough security checklist with explanations of all known attacks on SSL implementations, along with appropriate countermeasures.