Mike Meyers' CompTIA Security+ Certification Guide, Third Edition (Exam SY0-601), 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 11

Secure Protocols and Applications

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To get two hosts to communicate securely requires addressing numerous factors. What authentication should they use? What encryption? How do they initiate the secure communication? How is it terminated? What happens if something doesn’t work as expected?

Any competent programmer can write her own secure methods to deal with these questions, but that’s a silly waste of time. Implementing secure, standardized, well-tested, and well-known protocols is a quick and easy solution to address all of these questions.

Secure protocols give huge benefits. First, with a standardized secure protocol, programmers ...