What does the acronym "TLS" stand for and what is its primary purpose?

The acronym "TLS" stands for Transport Layer Security, and its primary purpose is to provide encryption over a network. TLS is a cryptographic protocol designed to ensure privacy and data integrity between two communicating applications. It is widely used on the internet to secure communications, especially for web traffic involving sensitive information such as passwords and payment details.

By encrypting data sent between a client and a server, TLS helps protect it from eavesdropping, tampering, and message forgery, which are critical threats in network communications. When a connection is established using TLS, the data is secured, making it much harder for unauthorized parties to access or alter the information being transmitted. This helps build trust and security in online transactions and communications. The use of TLS is essential in numerous applications, including web browsing, email, instant messaging, and VoIP.