It is easily noticeable that some references relate to SSL certificates using the term “TLS certificate”. This new security protocol introduced important concerns concerning the safe encryption between browsers and website servers. Below is a clarification on the difference between SSL and TLS certificates and will help users to choose which one to prefer using.
The first form of TLS was TLS 1.0, developed in 1999. There was a new protocol which was introduced as an update to the SSL 3.0 version. The developers argued that even though the differences between TLS and SSL were not important, they were still so critical that they led to the change of its name.
From that instance, SSL became TLS. When we use the term “SSL” now, we actually refer to “TLS”, for all the certificates have been developed to support the two. It is now clear that all the SSL certificates are fully congruous with TLS, even if their names were unchanged.
Well, a question still remains on why is the term ‘SSL Certificates’ used today if SSL is now TSL.
The technical reason differs as per the fact that some computers do not support the new TLS protocol and the safe connection is still allowed to be done using the SSL 3.0.
However, this connection can be forcedly established through a cyber attack called the “downgrade attack”. By choosing the SSL 3.0 instead of the new TLS 1.2, the hackers’ computers exploit the vulnerability of a website and force the servers to downgrade to the SSL 3.0 protocol. This vulnerability gives hackers the chances to perform “man-in-the-middle” attacks, through which they can catch the data that is being transmitted, or redirect the visitors to a deceptive web.
The obvious reason is that many are familiar to the “SSL” and the head Certificate Jurisdictions, such as Symantec, GeoTrust, RapidSSL, and Comodo, along with main software servers, like OpenSSL, kept the “SSL” name for their commondities. Probably, this is the reason why SSL certificates are still referred to as “SSL” instead of “TLS”. The public got used to it and altering the name may lead to chaos.
In conclusion, remember that this article has explained the following key points:
- The SSL protocol is currently the TLS protocol, but it retained the old name that was known by many.
- You should not be anxious about making any updates since the SSL certificates are congenial with all the existing versions of SSL and TLS.
- In order to protect your website, you are required to make sure that you disable the downgrade to SSL 3.0 option so that your server only uses the TLS protocol.
