<P> HTTPS (also called HTTP over Transport Layer Security (TLS), HTTP over SSL, and HTTP Secure) is a communications protocol for secure communication over a computer network which is widely used on the Internet . HTTPS consists of communication over Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) within a connection encrypted by Transport Layer Security, or its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer . The main motivation for HTTPS is authentication of the visited website and protection of the privacy and integrity of the exchanged data . </P> <P> In its popular deployment on the internet, HTTPS provides authentication of the website and associated web server with which one is communicating, which protects against man - in - the - middle attacks . Additionally, it provides bidirectional encryption of communications between a client and server, which protects against eavesdropping and tampering with or forging the contents of the communication . In practice, this provides a reasonable guarantee that one is communicating with precisely the website that one intended to communicate with (as opposed to an impostor), as well as ensuring that the contents of communications between the user and site cannot be read or forged by any third party . </P>

With https data are encrypted using a protocol called the