ACRO.IT Acronym Directory

Transport-layer protection, which operates between the browser and transport layer, is considered vital in establishing secure communications channels between parties on the Internet. To solve the problem, Netscape initially developed DDL; and subsequently, Microsoft developed its own version, Private Communications Technology (PCT). To solve compatibility issues, the two firms are jointly developing a convergent protocol, Transport Security Layer (TSL), which has been submitted to the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) for review. The TSL is under development by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Based on the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) 3.0 protocol, TSL is designed to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, and message forgery.