If you have reached this post it is because you are surfing the internet and surely you have done it with some frequency. Having surfed the Internet, it is very likely that you have noticed that URLs usually start with the acronym “HTTP” or “HTTPS”, but you probably have no idea what that means, or which ones are the differences between one or the other.
We may or may not know that both HTTP and HTTPS are protocols and although we surely think not, it is really important to know about them, what they mean, how they differ and how they work on the internet.
At first glance the only difference between both protocols could be a letter included at the end, but it is much more than this. It is of great importance to have at least a basic knowledge about these protocols. For this reason we have elaborated for you a simple explanation about what the acronym of both means and some other details that may be convenient to know .
Index:
What do the acronym HTTP mean in computing? Evolution and operation
The acronym HTTP is the acronym for English Hypertext Transport Protocol , which translates into Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Basically its function is the one described in its name, being a protocol to transfer information between server and client, is responsible for ensuring that the data reaches its destination and is done correctly. It is considered a request-response protocol that runs between the two agents mentioned.
In general, the HTTP protocol does not store any information about the connections made, but once the data is finished, the browsing data is lost.
Without a doubt, HTTP is the most used protocol in the network. Since its development has evolved considerably having different versions until today:
- HTTP / 0.9 : Initially it had no version number, this was added when a second version of the protocol emerged to differentiate one from the other. It was a single-line protocol and did not use headers, so the only files that could be transferred were HTML.
- HTTP / 1.0 : This version made considerable progress allowing the GET, HEAD and POST request methods.
- HTTP / 1.1: It was launched in 1997 and allows the client to make multiple requests at once. In addition to being able to reuse the connection.
- HTTP / 2: Although it does not modify the semantics of version 1.1, it includes several improvements with respect to it, such as the ability to that a server can answer several requests at the same time.
Despite having evolved, version 1.1 is still the most widely used worldwide. Well, although HTTP is a fairly vulnerable protocol, previously Internet users did not need so much security to navigate, this is because online purchases or banking operations were not made from the computer.
Differences between HTTP and HTTPS protocol
The difference between these two protocols goes beyond adding a letter at the end. This letter, it is clear that adds the quality of “safe” to the protocol. Then, HTTPS is the acronym for English Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, translated into Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol . This letter “S” refers to an additional protocol called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) that together with HTTP allow the transmission of encrypted information on the internet.
Using the HTTPS protocol is the safest way to surf the internet, since all the information we enter will be encrypted, which gives us the guarantee that the only ones who can access that information They are the client and the server.
HTTPS is used in activities that add the use of personal data, either in banking operations, emails or any other place where passwords or any confidential information must be entered
The only disadvantage of the HTTPS protocol with respect to HTTP is that the speed in this is lower because the secure connection requires encryption and decryption work, which causes some slow connection.
How to know if a web page is using the secure HTTPS protocol?
Identifying whether or not a page is using the HTTPS protocol providing us with connection security is very simple. Simply simply look at the top left, just at the beginning of the URL we can detail if the protocol used is HTTP or HTTPS.
In case you have a box with a green padlock, we will know that the HTTPS protocol is working on that page and that the connection is encrypted and secure, and even if you want you will have the option to be able to observe the web certificate .
What is the SSL security certificate for a website?
The acronym SSL comes from English Secure Sockets Layer , which means Layer of Secure Connections. SSL is a security protocol that, as we said, is used in conjunction with HTTP to form the secure information transfer protocol.
The SSL certificate is used to authenticate the identity of a website. It is a document that is used in order to provide security to users who browse a web page in order to show them that it is real and that they can trust it and enter their personal data without any risk.
Having a certificate SSL makes our data encrypted and will therefore be transmitted securely, we will also be certain that it is free from the scope of any unwanted agent only having access to it both the browser and the server, this caused by the use of mathematical algorithms and certain keys that can only be deciphered by these two agents.
Without a doubt, this gives us a guarantee of security to the users who surf the web, well because it ensures that we are entering the correct site and in addition to this because we know that nobody will be able to access our information.