SSL & TLS Essentials: Securing the Web [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Stephen A. Thomas (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471383546 | ISBN-13: 978-0471383543 | Publication Date: February 11, 2000

"Great writing . . . a clear introduction to the most widely deployed security technology in the Internet."-Paul Lambert, former co-chair of IETF IPSEC working group

The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security(TLS) protocols form the foundation for e-commerce security on the World Wide Web, verifying the authenticity of Web sites, encrypting the transfer of sensitive data, and ensuring the integrity of information exchanged. Now-for the first time the details of these critical security protocols are available in a complete, clear, and concise reference. SSL and TLS Essentials provides complete documentation of the SSL and TLS protocols, including advanced and proprietary extensions never before published. The book thoroughly covers the protocols in operation, including the contents of their messages, message formats, and the cryptographic calculations used to construct them. The text also includes an introduction to cryptography and an explanation of X.509 public key certificates. Stephen Thomas, author of IPng and the TCP/IP Protocols, presents this complex material in a clear and reader-friendly manner. The book includes more than 80 figures and illustrations to supplement its text, and it describes SSL in the context of real-world, practical applications. Readers will immediately understand not only the academic principles behind he security protocols, but how those principles apply to their own network security challenges.

The book includes:
* Full details of Netscape's SSL and the IETF's TLS protocols, with differences between the two clearl highlighted and explained
* A concise tutorial in cryptography
* Complete coverage of Netscape's International Step-Up and Microsoft's Server Gated Cryptography implementations
* A description of X.509 public key certificates
* Details on implementing backwards compatibility among previous versions of SSL and TLS
* A thorough security checklist with explanations of all known attacks on SSL implementations, along with appropriate countermeasures.

The CD-ROM contains convenient electronic versions of the book for:
* Windows(r) CE handheld computers
* Adobe(r) Acrobat Reader for PCs

Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks/

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Great writing . . . a clear introduction to the most widely deployed security technology in the Internet."?Paul Lambert, former co-chair of IETF IPSEC working group

The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security(TLS) protocols form the foundation for e-commerce security on the World Wide Web, verifying the authenticity of Web sites, encrypting the transfer of sensitive data, and ensuring the integrity of information exchanged. Now?for the first time the details of these critical security protocols are available in a complete, clear, and concise reference. SSL and TLS Essentials provides complete documentation of the SSL and TLS protocols, including advanced and proprietary extensions never before published. The book thoroughly covers the protocols in operation, including the contents of their messages, message formats, and the cryptographic calculations used to construct them. The text also includes an introduction to cryptography and an explanation of X.509 public key certificates. Stephen Thomas, author of IPng and the TCP/IP Protocols, presents this complex material in a clear and reader-friendly manner. The book includes more than 80 figures and illustrations to supplement its text, and it describes SSL in the context of real-world, practical applications. Readers will immediately understand not only the academic principles behind he security protocols, but how those principles apply to their own network security challenges.

The book includes:

• Full details of Netscape?s SSL and the IETF?s TLS protocols, with differences between the two clearl highlighted and explained
• A concise tutorial in cryptography
• Complete coverage of Netscape?s International Step-Up and Microsoft?s Server Gated Cryptography implementations
• A description of X.509 public key certificates
• Details on implementing backwards compatibility among previous versions of SSL and TLS
• A thorough security checklist with explanations of all known attacks on SSL implementations, along with appropriate countermeasures.

The CD-ROM contains convenient electronic versions of the book for:

• Windows? CE handheld computers
• Adobe? Acrobat Reader for PCs

Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks/

About the Author

STEPHEN THOMAS is CTO of TransNexus, a leading provider of e-commerce solutions for Internet telecommunications. He has been actively involved in Internet protocol development for nearly 20 years and has contributed to numerous Internet Drafts and RFCs. Thomas is also the author of IPng and the TCP/IP Protocols (also from Wiley).

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (February 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471383546
• ISBN-13: 978-0471383543
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #90 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Culture > Privacy

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good programmers SSL/TLS reference, October 30, 2000

By 

Ben Rothke "Author of 'Computer Security: 20 ... (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SSL & TLS Essentials: Securing the Web (Paperback)

Anyone who has ordered a book from Amazon.com or made a stock trade via an online broker has used SSL, or Secure Socket Layer. SSL, created by Netscape for managing the security of transmissions on the Internet, is a method of encrypting sensitive data. The "socket" part of the term refers to the sockets network transmission method of passing data back and forth between a client and a server program on a network. SSL is ubiquitous; it is an essential part of every browser shipped today.

SSL and TLS (Transport Layer Security) are essentially the same protocol. While SSL was originally designed by Netscape, the company has since offered SSL as a proposed standard protocol to the World Wide Web Consortium and the Internet Engineering Task Force, and it has since been renamed TLS.

SSL and TLS Essentials provides a thorough look into the inner workings of SSL. The book assumes a basic understanding of cryptography and gets right into the nitty-gritty of SSL functionality. The book is designed for those who need an in-depth and comprehensive look at the inner workings and mechanics of SSL, such as system administrators of e-commerce systems or SSL programmers.

This review of mine originally appears at http://www.securitymanagement.com/library/000934.html

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book on SSL, May 16, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SSL & TLS Essentials: Securing the Web (Paperback)

I thought this book gives a very good intro to SSL as well as getting in depth. It's organized in four parts the first being a high level overview. Each part gets more in depth until the fourth part where you actually see some of the bytes being sent across the wire. This is the only book on SSL that I've been able to find. It does not go in depth on the cryptography side, but if you need to know how the protocol works, it's a great reference. I've been working with SSL libraries for over a year and this book offered a great explanation. I've recommended it to coworkers as an intro to the technology and they've come up to speed very quickly.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book on SSL, July 9, 2000

By 

David Clunie (Bangor, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SSL & TLS Essentials: Securing the Web (Paperback)

This is currently the only book available on the subject, and fortunately it may the only one you will need !

Not only does it explain the SSL protocol thoroughly but also contains invaluable sections of the X.509 certificate and ASN.1

The parts I found most useful were the discussion of the differences between TLS 1.0 and SSL 3.0, and the discussion of international step-up certificates.