OpenSSL
OpenSSL is a robust, commercial-grade, and full-featured toolkit for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocols, as well as a general-purpose cryptography library. It provides a wide array of cryptographic functions, including symmetric ciphers, public-key…
Key facts
- First appeared
- 1998
- Category
- technology
- Problem solved
- OpenSSL was created to provide a free, open-source, and robust implementation of the SSL/TLS protocols and a comprehensive cryptographic library. It aimed to address the critical need for secure communication over insecure networks (like the internet), enabling data confidentiality, integrity, and authentication for web traffic, email, VPNs, and other network services, which was previously a complex and often proprietary endeavor.
- Platforms
- FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, Android, Embedded Linux systems, macOS, AIX, NetBSD, HP-UX, iOS, VxWorks, OpenBSD, Windows
Related technologies
Notable users
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Netflix
- IBM
- Ubuntu
- Red Hat
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- All major Linux distributions
- Cisco
- Web browsers (indirectly through OS or underlying libraries)