The difference between HTTP and HTTPS

Difference between HTTP and HTTPSis very basic thing every internet user should know. Even if you are not aware then check out our post to know what exactly difference between HTTP and HTTPS.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol The HTTP protocol is used to transfer information between a web browser and a web server. The HTTP protocol sends content in clear text, without providing any form of data encryption, if an attacker intercepts between a web browser and a web server. The transmission message can directly read the information therein. Therefore, the HTTP protocol is not suitable for transmitting some sensitive information, such as credit card number, password and other payment information.

In order to solve this shortcoming of the HTTP protocol, another protocol is needed: Secure Sockets Layer Hypertext Transfer Protocol HTTPS. For the security of data transmission, HTTPS adds SSL protocol based on HTTP, and SSL relies on certificates to authenticate the server. Identity and encryption for communication between the browser and the server.

Difference between HTTP and HTTPS

First, the basic concepts of HTTP and HTTPS

HTTP: is the most widely used network protocol on the Internet. It is a client-side and server-side request and response standard (TCP) for transmitting hypertext from a WWW server to a local browser. It can be browsed. The device is more efficient and reduces network transmission.

HTTPS: HTTP channel for security purposes. It is simply a secure version of HTTP. That is, HTTP is added to the SSL layer. The security foundation of HTTPS is SSL. Therefore, the details of encryption require SSL.

The main functions of the HTTPS protocol can be divided into two types: one is to establish an information security channel to ensure the security of data transmission; the other is to confirm the authenticity of the website.

Second, what is the difference between HTTP and HTTPS?

The data transmitted by the HTTP protocol is unencrypted, that is, plaintext. Therefore, it is very insecure to use the HTTP protocol to transmit private information. In order to ensure that these private data can be encrypted and transmitted, Netscape has designed the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol. The HTTPS was born by encrypting the data transmitted by the HTTP protocol. To put it simply, the HTTPS protocol is a network protocol built by the SSL+HTTP protocol for encrypted transmission and identity authentication, which is more secure than the http protocol.

The difference between HTTP and HTTPS are as follows:

1. The https protocol needs to apply for a certificate at ca. Generally, there are fewer free certificates, so a certain fee is required.

2. http is a hypertext transfer protocol, the information is transmitted in plaintext, and https is a secure ssl encrypted transport protocol.

3, http and https use a completely different connection method, the port used is not the same, the former is 80, the latter is 443.

4, http connection is very simple, is stateless; HTTPS protocol is a network protocol built by SSL+HTTP protocol for encrypted transmission and identity authentication, which is more secure than http protocol.

Third, the working principle of HTTPS

We all know that HTTPS can encrypt information so that sensitive information is not obtained by third parties. Therefore, many banking websites or e-mail addresses and other services with higher security levels will adopt the HTTPS protocol.

The client has the following steps when communicating with the web server using HTTPS, as shown in the figure.

(1) The client accesses the web server using the URL of https and requires an SSL connection with the web server.

(2) After receiving the client request, the web server will transmit the certificate information of the website (including the public key in the certificate) to the client.

(3) The client’s browser and the web server begin to negotiate the security level of the SSL connection, that is, the level of information encryption.

(4) The client’s browser establishes a session key according to the agreed security level, and then encrypts the session key with the public key of the website and transmits it to the website.

(5) The web server decrypts the session key with its own private key.

(6) The web server encrypts the communication with the client by using the session key.

Fourth, the advantages of HTTPS

Although HTTPS is not absolutely secure, organizations that have root certificates and organizations that have encryption algorithms can also attack in the form of man-in-the-middle attacks. However, HTTPS is still the most secure solution under the current architecture, with the following advantages:

(1) Use the HTTPS protocol to authenticate users and servers to ensure that data is sent to the correct client and server;

(2) HTTPS protocol is a network protocol built by SSL+HTTP protocol for encrypted transmission and identity authentication. It is more secure than http protocol, which prevents data from being stolen or changed during transmission and ensures data integrity.

(3) HTTPS is the most secure solution under the current architecture. Although it is not absolutely secure, it greatly increases the cost of man-in-the-middle attacks.

(4) Google adjusted its search engine algorithm in August 2014, saying that “websites that use HTTPS encryption will rank higher in search results than equivalent HTTP sites.”

Five, the shortcomings of HTTPS

Although HTTPS has great advantages, it still has some shortcomings:

(1) The HTTPS protocol handshake phase is relatively time consuming, which will increase the page load time by nearly 50% and increase the power consumption by 10% to 20%.

(2) HTTPS connection cache is not as efficient as HTTP, which will increase data overhead and power consumption, and even existing security measures will be affected as a result;

(3) The SSL certificate requires money. The more powerful the certificate, the higher the cost of the certificate. It is not necessary for the personal website and the small website to be used.

(4) SSL certificates usually need to be bound to IP. You cannot bind multiple domain names on the same IP. IPv4 resources cannot support this consumption.

(5) The encryption scope of the HTTPS protocol is also limited, and it has almost no effect in hacker attacks, denial of service attacks, server hijacking, and so on. Most critically, the SSL chain’s credit chain system is not secure, especially in the case where certain countries can control the CA root certificate.

Six, http switch to HTTPS

How do I need to switch my website from http to https?

Here you need to change all the links in the page, such as js, css, images, etc., from http to https. For example: http://www.google.com changed to https://www.google.com

BTW, although http is switched to https here, it is recommended to keep http. So we can do http and https compatibility when switching, the specific implementation is to remove the http header in the page link, which can automatically match the http header and https header. For example: change http://www.google.com to //www.google.com. Then when the user enters the access page from the http portal, the page is http. If the user enters the access page from the https portal, the page is even https.

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