How does HTTPS ensure secure web communication?

HTTPS ensures secure web communication by encrypting data transferred between the user's browser and the website server.

HTTPS, which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, is a protocol used for secure communication over a computer network. It is the secure version of HTTP, the protocol over which data is sent between your browser and the website that you are connected to. The 'S' at the end of HTTPS stands for 'Secure', which means that all communications between your browser and the website are encrypted.

The encryption is provided by Transport Layer Security (TLS) or its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), both commonly referred to as 'SSL'. When a user connects to a website via HTTPS, the website encrypts the session with a digital SSL certificate. A user can tell if they are connected to a website with SSL if the website URL begins with 'https://' instead of 'http://'.

The primary reason HTTPS is used is to keep sensitive information sent across the Internet encrypted so that only the intended recipient can access it. This is important because the information you send on the Internet is passed from computer to computer to get to the destination server. Any computer in between you and the server can see your credit card numbers, usernames and passwords, and other sensitive information if it is not encrypted with an SSL certificate.

When an SSL certificate is used, the information becomes unreadable to everyone except for the server you are sending the information to. This protects it from hackers and identity thieves. In addition to encryption, a proper SSL certificate also provides authentication. This means you can be sure that you are sending information to the right server and not to an imposter trying to steal your information.

In summary, HTTPS ensures secure web communication by using SSL to encrypt the data transferred between the user and the server. This prevents potential eavesdroppers from seeing sensitive information like passwords and credit card numbers, and also verifies the identity of the website server.