SSL Terminology and Acronyms

Table 1: SSL Terminology provides definitions of SSL terminology:

Table 1: SSL Terminology
Term	Definition
Plaintext	The original, unencrypted data.
Ciphertext	The encrypted data.
Cryptography	The practice of secure communications.
Encryption	The process of turning plaintext into ciphertext.
Decryption	The process of turning ciphertext into plaintext.
Encryption algorithm	The algorithm used to perform encryption and decryption. It is also called the cipher.
Encryption key	The key used for encryption.
Decryption key	The key used for decryption.
Symmetrical encryption algorithm	The algorithm used for encryption in which the encryption key and the decryption key are identical.
Asymmetrical encryption algorithm	The algorithm used for encryption in which the encryption key and the decryption key are different.
Public key	The key used for encryption.
Private key	The key used for decryption.

Table 2: SSL Acronyms
Acronym	Definition
AES	Advanced Encryption Standard
CA	Certificate Authority
CBC	Cipher Block Chaining
CN	Common Name
CRL	Certificate Revocation List
DES	Data Encryption Standard
DH, D-H	Diffie-Hellman
DSA	Digital Signature Algorithm
ECDH	Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman
ECDSA	Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm
FQDN	Fully Qualified Domain Name
IDS	Intrusion Detection System
IPS	Intrusion Prevention System
MAC	Message Authentication Code
MD	Message Digest
MitM	Man-in-the-Middle
OCSP	Online Certificate Status Protocol
OoB	Out-of-Band
PEM	Privacy Enhanced Mail
PFS	Perfect Forward Secrecy
PKCS12	Public Key Cryptography Standard #12
PKI	Public Key Infrastructure
RSA	Rivest-Shamir-Adleman
SHA	Secure Hash Algorithm
SSL	Secure Sockets Layer
TCP	Transmission Control Protocol
TLS	Transport Layer Security
URL	Uniform Resource Locator