User manual

Cobalt Qube 3 User Manual 269

These capabilities address fundamental concerns about communication over

the Internet and other TCP/IP networks:

• SSL server authentication allows a user to confirm the identity of a

server. SSL-enabled client software can use standard techniques of

public-key cryptography to check that a server’s certificate and public ID

are valid and have been issued by a certificate authority (CA) listed in the

client’s list of trusted CAs. This confirmation can be important if, for

example, the user is sending a credit card number over the network and

wants to check the receiving server’s identity.

• SSL client authentication allows a server to confirm a user’s identity.

Using the same techniques as those used for server authentication, SSL-

enabled server software can check that a client’s certificate and public ID

are valid and have been issued by a certificate authority (CA) listed in the

server’s list of trusted CAs. This confirmation can be important if, for

example, the server is a bank sending confidential financial information

to a customer and wants to check the recipient’s identity.

• an encrypted SSL connection requires all information sent between a

client and a server to be encrypted by the sending software and decrypted

by the receiving software, thus providing a high degree of

confidentiality. Confidentiality is important for both parties to any

private transaction. In addition, all data sent over an encrypted SSL

connection is protected with a mechanism for detecting tampering—that

is, for automatically determining whether the data has been altered in

transit.