[1189] in WWW Security List Archive
Netscape's little key icon
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Seth I. Rich)
Sat Nov 25 16:32:42 1995
From: "Seth I. Rich" <seth@hygnet.com>
To: www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 1995 13:02:33 -0500 (EST)
Errors-To: owner-www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
Ok, perhaps this is a FAQ item, but I don't recall having read it
anywhere. When I open up Netscape, which is admittedly infrequently, I
see that little key icon in the bottom left corner of the screen. I'm
told that when it's a solid key with teethies, that means you're talking
to a "secure server" (if that phrase has any meaning outside of marketing
materials).
This is my question: How is that determined? If the browser is opened to
URL A, how does the browser determine whether it's a "secure" thing? By
looking at the server which houses that URL? By looking at the servers
to which forms could potentially be submitted?
It seems that in order for that icon to actually be meaningful, a good
deal of work would have to happen every time a page is loaded. Does
anyone know the methodology here?
Seth
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Seth I. Rich - seth@hygnet.com - (610) 859-0100
Systems Administrator / Webmaster, HYGNet My words are my own; please
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