> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://doc.bitbrowser.net/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://doc.bitbrowser.net/fingerprint/12.md).

# SSL

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a [cryptographic protocol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptographic_protocol) designed to provide communications security over a computer network. The [protocol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_protocol) is widely used in applications such as [email](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email), [instant messaging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_messaging), and [voice over IP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_IP), but its use in securing [HTTPS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTPS) remains the most publicly visible.

The TLS protocol aims primarily to provide security, including [privacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy) (confidentiality), integrity, and authenticity through the use of [cryptography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptography), such as the use of [certificates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_key_certificate), between two or more communicating computer applications. It runs in the [presentation layer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation_layer) and is itself composed of two layers: the TLS record and the TLS [handshake protocols](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handshake_\(computing\)).

The closely related Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) is a [communications protocol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_protocol) that provides [security](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_security) to [datagram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datagram)-based applications. In technical writing, references to "(D)TLS" are often seen when it applies to both versions.

TLS is a proposed [Internet Engineering Task Force](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Engineering_Task_Force) (IETF) standard, first defined in 1999, and the current version is TLS 1.3, defined in August 2018. TLS builds on the now-deprecated SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) specifications (1994, 1995, 1996) developed by [Netscape Communications](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_Communications) for adding the HTTPS protocol to their [Navigator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_Navigator) web browser.

Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security)