HTTP and HTTPS: Know The Comprehensive Differences(2021)

The Terminology

HTTP and HTTPS are terms that most web browsers recognize. However, the two differ in how they communicate. While HTTP is often confused with HTTP hello, which is a method of sending hello to someone on the Internet, it is actually an extended Hypertext Transfer Protocol, better known as HTTPS. It’s commonly used on the Web and is often used for secure online communication over a public computer network.

Why is this important?

To understand why it’s important to encrypt sensitive information with SSL/TLS, you must first understand how HTTP gets its start. When web developers create a web page, they may include some kind of “server” code. This code, called a “protocol handler”, receives requests from end users and sends the request to the right program/software. The program or software then parses the request, converts it into a form appropriate for the server’s needs, and send back the result back to the end user.

How HTTP and HTTPS works?

In simple terms, when you visit a website, the browser will request information from the website through an HTTP request, and it will then send that request to the website’s “protocol handler”. Once the information has been received and decoded, your browser will then check to see if the site’s underlying server supports Secure Socket Layer or Secure Sockets Layer, and if it does, it will decrypt and make the proper SSL/TLS connections.

If it doesn’t, your browser will fail the request, and then it will return an error message. If you have sensitive information sent through an HTTP request, you need to make sure that the site is using an https connection.

Also Read: How is DNS used to access a website(2021)

HTTP and HTTPS issues

A major problem associated with the HTTP and HTTPS is when users don’t know how to read and use the secure connection feature. You may encounter a scenario where a person enters their bank card number or other sensitive information into a website. Before the person can proceed with making a transaction, the website’s server will ask them to connect to a secure socket layer before proceeding.

The problem is that people often think that they are “HTTPS ready” when they actually aren’t. Even when you’ve entered your sensitive information into a website that is ‘HTTP secure’ (and has a visible secure lock icon), you may not be viewing it safely on other computers because the browser doesn’t yet know how to make an HTTP connection to the website.

So how to resolve this issue?

Some browsers have a feature called session keys; this is essentially a secret pair of numbers that you create using your login details. When you save these session keys onto a computer that isn’t on the network, you’ll be asked to add them – and then use the session keys to encrypt https traffic that comes back to you.

Other Options

The other option is to turn off the ability for users to see which websites can read and process Https. There are several different ways to do this, including: using the -http-only flag in the HTTP settings, using the http only keep Alive flag on the Apache configuration file, and using curl http only keep Alive flag.

Most of these methods will make your browser behaves exactly as if you had enabled the http only keep Alive flag; the only difference will be that when you visit a website that implements Https, you won’t see a visible URL prompt. This way, you can rest assured that any http requests made to websites that support the Hypertext Transfer Protocol will be readable and correctly treated by most web browsers.

Best Practices

A good approach to preventing leaks from HTTP and HTTPS is to implement the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and the Digest algorithm. The SSLv2 protocol makes the SSL handshake exchange a two-step process that verifies the integrity of the destination URL before allowing any Push notifications to be pushed.

Some Difference Between HTTP and HTTPS

There is a huge difference between the two major protocols for establishing a secure internet connection. Let’s look into some to know more

1#

The protocol named as HTTP is used to communicate over the World Wide Web whereas the more popular protocol named as HTTPS is used to transmit secure information over the Internet. If you are not very familiar with the two protocols, it will be better if you read further so that you will get an idea how they work and what is the importance of knowing them. You need to know how websites look like before going into the technicalities of how websites behave. It is important for you to learn how web pages are constructed so that you can be aware of the major differences between HTTP and HTTPS.

2#

Websites differ from servers in many ways and one of the major differences is in the way they communicate with the internet. A website speaks to the computers on the internet and requests for accessing that website from the internet. It is the request for that access that makes the communication work. Every computer has its own IP address, which is necessary to make this communication to happen.  Website might be accessed by typing the handle on the browser’s handle bar

3#

The purpose of this is to identify your location and that is to ensure that your information remains secure. That’s why there are different networks which contain websites. Each network has its own IP address, which cannot be shared with any other network. Your IP address will be saved on the server that is located somewhere different from where you are.

4#

As you go deeper into understanding the workings of a website, you will come to know how they secure their information. If you want to be able to access information from your favourite websites across the world, you will have to use a secure tunnel that will ensure privacy and confidentiality at all times. When a person types in your favourite information, it will be encrypted and stored on their computer. The information cannot be accessed by anyone when a website is secure.

5#

Websites can be secured by using a variety of methods including; Java applets, Secure Transport, Secure Socket Layer(SSL), Digital Certificate, HSTS, and more. All of these methods are used to secure the information from others. On the server side of things, web servers will use a variety of protocols and systems such as; JSP, ASP, PHP, and more. These will also need to support other features such as; MYSQL, XML Access, Cookie, and more.

6#

Once the information has been sent and received from the web servers to and from the client, it is then converted back to an HTML document. The browser will process this document and display it to the user. Most of the web servers will be able to detect the original format and will automatically convert the information into the needed format. However, some websites will require the browser to be able to do this on its own.

7#

In order for the online pages to load quickly and reliably, there’ll have to be an authentication system in website. This authentication system is typically done using cookies. Cookies are small pieces of knowledge that may be sent with each page within the applications programmed sends out. the net servers will check if the cookie matches an existing client, and if so, will make that information available to the user.

Conclusion:

The major distinction between the two is that with HTTP, the knowledge is transmitted unencrypted. This could cause safety issues in addition to pace points. With an SSL or Secured Socket Layer, the information goes to be encrypted earlier than being transmitted over the net. This ensures that safety is saved at a high-level which data stays personal.