Some more words to add:
Whats the meaning of SSL?
(pronounced as separate letters) Short for
Secure Sockets
Layer, a protocal developed by netscape for transmitting private
documents via the Internet. SSL works by using a private key to encrypt
data that's transferred over the SSL connection. Both netscape navigator
and Internet Explorer support SSL, and many Web Sites use the protocol to
obtain confidential user information, such as credit card numbers. By
convention,URLs that require an SSL connection start with
https:
instead of
http:. Another protocol for transmitting data securely over
the World Wide Web is
Secure HTTP (HTTPs). Whereas SSL creates a
secure connection between a client and a server, over which any amount of
data can be sent securely, S-HTTP is designed to transmit individual
messages securely. SSL and S-HTTP, therefore, can be seen as
complementary rather than competing technologies. Both protocols have
been approved by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as a standard.
What is a network?
A group of two or more computer systems linked together. There are many
types of computer networks, including:
Local - area networks (LANs)
: The computers are geographically
close together (that is, in the same building).
Wide- area networks (WANs)
: The computers are farther apart and
are connected by telephone lines or radio waves.
campus - area networks (CANs)
: The computers are within a limited
geographic area, such as a campus or military base. metropolitan
Metropolitan- area networks (MANs)
: A data network designed for
a town or city.
Home - area network (HANs)
: A network contained within a user's
home that connects a person's digital devices.
In addition to these types, the following characteristics are also used to
categorize different types of networks: Topology
: The geometric
arrangement of a computer system. Common topologies include a bus, star,
and ring. See the Network topologydiagrams in the Quick Reference section
of Webopedia.
protocol
: The protocol defines a common set of rules and signals
that computers on the network use to communicate. One of the most popular
protocols for LANs is called
Ethernet. Another popular LAN protocol for
PCs is the
IBM token-ring network.
architecture
: Networks can be broadly classified as using either a
peer-to-peer or
client/server architecture.
Computers on a network are sometimes called
nodes. Computers and
devices that allocate resources for a network are called
servers.
Active Server Pages
Abbreviated as
ASP, a specification for a dynamically created Web page with a
.ASP extension that utilizes ActiveX scripting -- usually
VB Script or Jscript code. When a browser requests an ASP, the Web server generates a page with HTML code and sends it back to the browser. So ASPs are similar to CGI scripts, but they enable Visual Basic programmers to work with familiar tools.
VPN
(pronounced as separate letters) Short for
virtual private network, a
network that is constructed by using public wires to connect nodes. For example, there are a number of systems that enable you to create networks using the Internet as the medium for transporting data. These systems use encryption and other security mechanisms to ensure that only authorized users can access the network and that the data cannot be intercepted.
FORUM
An online discussion group. Online services and bulletin board services (BBS's) provide a variety of forums, in which participants with common interests can exchange open messages. Forums are sometimes called
newsgroups (in the Internet world) or conferences.
Bandwidth
(1)A range within a band of frequencies or wavelengths. (2) The amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time. For digital devices, the bandwidth is usually expressed in bits per second(bps) or bytes per second. For analog devices, the bandwidth is expressed in cycles per second, or Hertz (Hz).
The bandwidth is particularly important for I/O devices. For example, a fast disk drive can be hampered by a bus with a low bandwidth. This is the main reason that new buses, such as AGP, have been developed for the PC.
SSH
Developed by SSH Communications Security Ltd., Secure Shell is a program to log into another computer over a network, to execute commands in a remote machine, and to move files from one machine to another. It provides strong authentication and secure communications over insecure channels. It is a replacement for rlogin, rsh, rcp, and rdist.
SSH protects a network from attacks such as IP spoofing, IP source routing, and DNS spoofing. An attacker who has managed to take over a network can only force ssh to disconnect. He or she cannot play back the traffic or hijack the connection when encryption is enabled.
When using ssh's slogin (instead of rlogin) the entire login session, including transmission of password, is encrypted; therefore it is almost impossible for an outsider to collect passwords.
SSH is available for Windows, Unix, Macintosh, and OS/2, and it also works with RSA authentication.