Are SSL and TLS the same thing?
SSL is the direct predecessor of another protocol called TLS (Transport Layer Security). In 1999 the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) proposed an update to SSL. Since this update was being developed by the IETF and Netscape was no longer involved, the name was changed to TLS. The differences between the final version of SSL (3.0) and the first version of TLS are not drastic; the name change was applied to signify the change in ownership.
Since they are so closely related, the two terms are often used interchangeably and confused. Some people still use SSL to refer to TLS, others use the term “SSL/TLS encryption” because SSL still has so much name recognition.
