Apache: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

Appendix D. SSL Protocol

This appendix reproduces verbatim the SSL protocol specification from http:// home.netspace.com/newsref/std/ssl.html.

The SSL protocol is designed to establish a secure connection between a client and a server communicating over an insecure channel. This document makes several traditional assumptions, including that attackers have substantial computational resources and cannot obtain secret information from sources outside the protocol. Attackers are assumed to have the ability to capture, modify, delete, replay, and otherwise tamper with messages sent over the communication channel. The following material outlines how SSL has been designed to resist a variety of attacks.