openssl Knowledge

Kip Landergren

(Updated: )

My openssl knowledge base briefly explaining the purpose and usage of the cryptographic library and command line tool.

Contents

Overview

openssl is the command line tool for interfacing with the OpenSSL cryptography toolkit. Various network protocols, like Transport Layer Security (TLS), are able to be interacted with and the elements of their implementation may be inspected in great detail.

Core Idea

Create an open-source library, OpenSSL, of cryptographic and network protocols and make a program, openssl, available for interacting with that library from the command line.

Key Concepts

Public-key Cryptography

Secure messages using two keys—one public and one private—in a variety of schemes.

Transport Layer Security (TLS)

Cryptographic protocols used to secure digital communication.