Which transport security protocol is commonly used to provide encryption for data in transit on the Internet?

Which transport security protocol is commonly used to provide encryption for data in transit on the Internet?

• A. AES
• B. TLS
• C. DES
• D. RSA

Answer: (B)

The concept being tested is identifying the protocol that protects data as it moves across the Internet. Transport Layer Security (TLS) is designed to create a secure, encrypted channel between two endpoints, so anything sent over that channel remains confidential and tamper-evident. It starts with a handshake that authenticates endpoints (using certificates) and negotiates the encryption algorithms, then establishes a session key used by a symmetric cipher to encrypt the actual data in transit. This combination—asymmetric methods for the handshake and symmetric encryption for the data—lets TLS efficiently secure large streams of data, which is why HTTPS (HTTP over TLS) is the standard for secure web traffic. In contrast, AES and DES are encryption algorithms, not a transport protocol; RSA is an asymmetric algorithm used for key exchange or digital signatures, not the ongoing transport security mechanism. Thus TLS best fits the goal of encrypting data in transit on the Internet.

The concept being tested is identifying the protocol that protects data as it moves across the Internet. Transport Layer Security (TLS) is designed to create a secure, encrypted channel between two endpoints, so anything sent over that channel remains confidential and tamper-evident. It starts with a handshake that authenticates endpoints (using certificates) and negotiates the encryption algorithms, then establishes a session key used by a symmetric cipher to encrypt the actual data in transit. This combination—asymmetric methods for the handshake and symmetric encryption for the data—lets TLS efficiently secure large streams of data, which is why HTTPS (HTTP over TLS) is the standard for secure web traffic. In contrast, AES and DES are encryption algorithms, not a transport protocol; RSA is an asymmetric algorithm used for key exchange or digital signatures, not the ongoing transport security mechanism. Thus TLS best fits the goal of encrypting data in transit on the Internet.