# 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) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://doc.bitbrowser.net/fingerprint/12.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.