path: root/lib/ssl/doc/src/ssl_introduction.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE chapter SYSTEM "chapter.dtd">

<chapter>
  <header>
    <copyright>
      <year>2015</year>
      <year>2015</year>
      <holder>Ericsson AB, All Rights Reserved</holder>
    </copyright>
    <legalnotice>
  The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
  Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
  compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
  Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
  retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.

  Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
  basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
  the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
  under the License.

  The Initial Developer of the Original Code is Ericsson AB.
    </legalnotice>

    <title>Introduction</title>
    <prepared>OTP team</prepared>
    <docno></docno>
    <date>2015-03-05</date>
    <rev>A</rev>
    <file>ssl_introduction.xml</file>
  </header>

  <section>
    <title>Purpose</title>
    <p>Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor, the Secure
    Sockets Layer (SSL), are cryptographic protocols designed to
    provide communications security over a computer network. The protocols use
    use X.509 certificates and hence public key (asymmetric) cryptography to
    authenticate the counterpart with whom they communicate,
    and to exchange a symmetric key for payload encryption. The protocol provides
    data/message confidentiality (encryption), integrity (through message authentication code checks)
    and host verification (through certificate path validation).</p>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>Prerequisites</title>
    <p>It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the Erlang
    programming language, the concepts of OTP, and has a basic
    understanding of SSL/TLS.</p>
  </section>

</chapter>