How HTTPS works with TLS certificates and encryption

Short summary

This article explains how HTTPS works using TLS to encrypt HTTP traffic, covering confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. It walks through the TLS handshake process, certificate authorities, and the clever key-exchange mechanism (ECDHE) that lets two parties derive a shared secret without ever transmitting it. The piece is a beginner-friendly primer on web security fundamentals.

• •HTTPS wraps HTTP in TLS encryption for confidentiality, integrity, and authentication
• •TLS handshake uses certificates from trusted authorities and ECDHE key exchange to derive shared secrets without transmitting them
• •Symmetric encryption handles bulk data; asymmetric encryption is used only for the initial handshake due to performance costs

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