Is This Connection Safe? — TechKnowSurge

About this interactive

The Secure Web Browsing lesson starts with three questions about any connection to a website. Am I connected to the right site? Is anyone in between listening? Is anyone changing what I see? PKI and TLS answer them. Authenticity: the traffic comes from the right source. Confidentiality: no one in between can read it. Integrity: it has not been changed on the way. Trust starts with a certificate authority (CA). Your computer trusts certain CAs; when one of them issues a site's certificate, your browser trusts that site too. techknowsurge.com's certificate was issued by Let's Encrypt R11. The certificate shows the name it was issued to (it should match the address you meant to visit), who issued it, its validity period, and the site's public key. A note on keys. The video says the browser decrypts the traffic "using the public key". It does not: everyone can get a site's public key, so that would let anyone read the traffic. The public key is used to check the site and set up the connection; the traffic itself is encrypted with session keys made for that one visit. Warnings. A certificate the site issued itself (self-signed) gets a "Not secure" warning. Go on only to a device you know, such as one you set up; never to a site you do not know. If you run a site, give it a valid certificate, paid or free, so your users never learn to click through warnings. (The video also says "the HTTP is crossed out"; on screen it is the https.) Read each situation and decide.

What you'll learn

Decide whether to go on to a site from what its certificate shows: the name it was issued to, the certificate authority that issued it, its validity period, and a self-signed certificate on a device you do or do not know
Match a threat to the goal of PKI and TLS that stops it (authenticity, confidentiality or integrity), and explain why a browser trusts a site whose certificate a trusted certificate authority issued

Aligned to

CompTIA Tech+

3.5 Given a scenario, configure and use web browsers.

6.6 Explain common uses of encryption.

6.1 Summarize confidentiality, integrity, and availability concerns.

CompTIA A+ Core 2

2.10 Given a scenario, install and configure browsers and relevant security settings.

Key terms

Certificate Authority: A trusted entity that issues digital certificates used to verify the identity of individuals, organizations, or devices.
Digital Certificate: An electronic document that uses a digital signature to bind a public key with an identity.
Self-Signed Certificate: A digital certificate signed by the entity that created it rather than a trusted certificate authority, providing encryption without third-party identity verification.
Transport Layer Security: A cryptographic protocol that provides secure communication over a network, successor to SSL.
Public Key Infrastructure: A framework of hardware, software, policies, and standards used to create, manage, and distribute digital certificates.
Authenticity: The assurance that information or a communication originates from the claimed source and has not been fabricated or impersonated. Digital signatures and certificates are common mechanisms for establishing authenticity.
Confidentiality: The principle that information is accessible only to those authorized to access it.
Integrity: The assurance that data has not been tampered with and remains accurate and complete.

Topics

Secure Browsing Https Digital Certificates Certificate Warnings Tls Interactive Predict

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