what is tls in networking

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol that provides end-to-end security of data sent between applications over the Internet. It is a successor of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, which was originally developed by Netscape Communications Corporation in 1994 to secure web sessions. TLS aims to provide security, including privacy (confidentiality), integrity, and authenticity through the use of cryptography, such as the use of certificates, between two or more communicating computer applications. It is mostly familiar to users through its use in secure web browsing, and in particular the padlock icon that appears in web browsers when a secure session is established. TLS is used to secure application layer protocols like FTP, HTTP, and SMTP, among others. It is normally implemented on top of TCP in order to encrypt Application Layer protocols, although it can also be implemented on UDP, DCCP, and SCTP as well. TLS uses a client-server handshake mechanism to establish an encrypted and secure connection and to ensure the authenticity of the communication. TLS is a proposed Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard, first defined in 1999, and the current version is TLS 1.3, defined in August 2018. Without TLS, sensitive information such as logins, credit card details, and personal details can easily be gleaned by others, but also browsing habits.