What are the differences between SSL and SSH?


Let us understand the concepts of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Secure Shell (SSH) before learning the differences between them.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

It's an encryption-based Internet security technology. It was designed to protect data integrity, privacy, and authentication in Internet communications. SSL was the precursor of the TLS encryption protocol that we use today. A website that employs SSL/TLS has "HTTPS" in its URL instead of "HTTP."

Two services are provided by SSL Records for SSL connections i.e. Confidentiality and Message integrity Data is fragmented in the SSL Record Protocol application. The fragment is compressed before being added with an encrypted MAC generated by methods like SHA and MD5.

It is standard technology that helps us to keep the data secure and safe by preventing criminals from reading and modifying any information transferred, including potential personal details.

SSL protects data by encrypting it. When we send an email, we need to read its contents in order to write it, and the server needs to read its contents in order to deliver it.

And this data in transit can be sniffed and used for malicious purposes. Data that goes through SSL protocols is encrypted with an unbreakable algorithm which will not reveal its secrets unless it detects secure SSL certificates on both sides of an interaction; this method is called a "handshake."

Bypassing the encryption process it gives data sniffers access to everything from private emails to online purchase records to bank account information.

Secure Shell (SSH)

It is a program to log into another computer over a network, to execute commands in a remote machine, and to move files from one machine to another.

Secure Shell (SSH) is a cryptographic system convention for working system benefits safely over an unbound system. Run of the mill applications incorporate remote direction line login and remote order execution, yet any system administration can be verified with SSH.

SSH gives a safe channel over an unbound system in a customer server engineering, associating a SSH customer application with a SSH server. The convention determination recognizes two forms, SSH-1 and SSH-2.

The standard TCP port for SSH is 22. SSH is commonly used to get to Unix-like working frameworks, yet it can likewise be utilized on Microsoft Windows. Windows 10 utilizes OpenSSH as its default SSH customer.

SSH was planned as a trade for Telnet and for unbound remote shell conventions, for example, the Berkeley rlogin, rsh, and rexec conventions. Those conventions send data, quite passwords, in plaintext, rendering them powerless to capture and exposure utilizing parcel analysis.

The encryption utilized by SSH is proposed to give privacy and trustworthiness of information over an unbound system, for example, the Internet, in spite of the fact that documents spilled by Edward Snowden demonstrate that the National Security Agency can in some cases decode SSH, enabling them to peruse the substance of SSH session

The advantage is that it has a high level of security as the data is transmitted in an encrypted format. The disadvantage is that the distribution of public keys can be cumbersome in large environments.

Differences

The major differences between SSL and SSH are as follows −

SSH (Secure Socket Layer)
SSL ( Secure Shell)
SSH is a tunnelling protocol which has a username/password authentication system.
SSL does not have a username or password authentication system.
Generally the SSH works on 22 port numbers.
SSL works on the 443 port number.
SSH depends on the network tunnelling.
SSL depends on the certificates.
SSH is a three-stage process for server and client authentication processes.
SSL is a digital certificate for server and client authentication.
SSH encrypts the communication between two computers on the internet.
SSL encrypts the communication between browser and server.
SSH is appropriate and effective for securely executing commands over the internet.
SSL is transferring securely the critical data in credit cards and banking.
SSH uses a symmetric key algorithm to provide data confidentiality.
SSL uses both symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms to provide data privacy.

Updated on: 17-Mar-2022

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