SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)

Please choose from the following questions.

  1. What does SSL mean?
  2. How do I use SSL?
  3. Does SSL work with Netscape only?
  4. What advantage, if any, is there to a secure page using SSL?
  5. Why can I use https://servername/~accountname but not https://virtualhostname ?
  6. I am trying to use cgiemail and am having trouble getting it to work with SSL. What am I doing wrong?
  7. After a user submits an order using a secure web form (using cgiemail), if I telnet into he.net and read it using pine is it still secure?
  8. How do I use frames with SSL?
  9. Where do I install and how do I call secure cgi scripts?
  10. How do I get a secure form to send encrypted email?
  11. How do I correctly call a cgi script from within a secure form?

What does SSL mean?

SSL is an acronym for Secure Sockets Layer. It is a protocol used for authenticating and encrypting web traffic. For web traffic to be authenticated means that your browser is able to verify the identity of the remote server. For web traffic to be encrypted means that traffic between the server and your browser is scrambled so that it is unintelgible if intercepted.
 
 

How do I use SSL?

All accounts include a secure web directory. Your secure web directory is named:

/home/acctname/secure_html

where "acctname" is your account name. Your secure web URL is:

https://servername/~acctname

where "servername" is the name of the server your account is on.

To invoke user CGI scripts using SSL use:

https://servername/cgi-bin/suid/~acctname/scriptname

To invoke system CGI scripts (such as cgiemail) using SSL use:

https://servername/cgi-bin/scriptname

Does SSL work with Netscape only?

It also works with Microsoft's Internet Explorer (or any other SSL compatible browser).
 
 

What advantage, if any, is there to a secure page using SSL?

The page and any response using forms on it are encrypted in transit so that eavesdroppers which may observe raw traffic passing through their networks can't read it. This is especially useful in shared environments, such as a college campus or a large office which uses standard 10 base T ethernet hubs or thin ethernet, where all machines can see all traffic.

 The use of a secure form increases the willingness of people to submit orders online using their credit card, which means increased sales for you.
 
 

Why can I use https://servername/~accountname but not https://virtualhostname ?

The digital certificates used in SSL are issued by certificate authorities (such as VeriSign). A digital certificate will only work for the specific domain name it was issued for.

 To obtain a digital certificate you must prove that you have the legal right to use the domain name the certificate is to be issued for, prove that you are who you say you are (for a corporation you may be required to provide its articles of incorporation), and pay the necessary fee ($295 for the first year if you use VeriSign) to the certificate authority.

 We have purchased digital certificates for all of our web servers to save you the cost, delay, and difficulty of obtaining a certificate. To take advantage of our preinstalled digital certificates you must use the domain name of the server in your https (SSL) URL.
 
 

I am trying to use cgiemail and am having trouble getting it to work with SSL. What am I doing wrong?

This is because cgiemail is looking in your public_html directory, not the secure_html directory.

 The simplest way to fix this is to delete your secure_html directory and create a symlink from it to your public_html directory. You then store your secure and public documents both in your public_html directory. Here are the unix commands to do this (after telnetting to the server):

 rmdir secure_html
ln -s public_html secure_html

After a user submits an order using a secure web form (using cgiemail), if I telnet into he.net and read it using pine is it still secure?

SSL encrypts web transactions between a client web browser and a web server. SSL is a big win because it enables a customer at a college campus (a high security risk environment) to place an order with the knowlege that other local workstations won't be able to eavesdrop. Once the data is on the server, the security of a telnet session depends on the path between you and the server. So it depends on how much you trust the networks you cross reaching us.
 
 

How do I use frames with SSL?

When using frames with ssl, a new window must be created otherwise ssl will not work.

Where do I install and how do I call secure cgi scripts?

The cgi scripts are placed in your cgi-bin and called using the URL:

https://server/cgi-bin/suid/~accountname/script.cgi

How do I get a secure form to send encrypted email?

You would use PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) for that. Please see:

http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp.html

How do I correctly call a cgi script from within a secure form?

Please use:

https://server/cgi-bin/suid/~accountname/scriptname

Make sure to replace where it says server with your domain name or the domain name on which your account is located. Also replace where it says accountname with the name of your account and scriptname with the name of your script.