[1193] in WWW Security List Archive
Re: Netscape's little key icon
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ong Guan Sin)
Sun Nov 26 00:11:43 1995
To: seth@hygnet.com (Seth I. Rich)
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 10:36:23 +0800 (SST)
From: "Ong Guan Sin" <cceonggs@leonis.nus.sg>
Cc: www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
In-Reply-To: <199511251802.NAA15247@arkady.hygnet.com> from "Seth I. Rich" at Nov 25, 95 01:02:33 pm
Errors-To: owner-www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
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> 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?
The broken "key" rejoins whenever the current page is transmitted using
SSL, with the URL type of "https" (as opposed to normal "http"). This
means the browser is currently communicating to a server which is able to
talk SSL (at port 443).
GS
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