Network News

See NNTP.

Transfer Protocol

 

newsgroup

A hierarchical subject category into which InterNetNews articles are organized.

NNTP

Network News Transfer Protocol. A protocol for the distribution, inquiry, retrieval, and posting

 

of Usenet news articles over the Internet. NNTP is an ASCII text protocol that lets you connect to

 

the server using telnet if you do not have a news reader program.

POP

Post Office Protocol. A protocol that allows single-user hosts to read electronic mail from a server.

port

A logical channel in a communications system.

private key

The part of the key in a public key system that is kept secret and is used only by its owner. This

 

is the key used for decrypting messages and for making digital signatures. Compare with public

 

key.

public key

The part of the key in a public key system that is distributed widely and is not kept secure. This

 

is the key used for encryption (as opposed to decryption) or for verifying signatures. Compare

 

with private key.

public key

Public key cryptography uses a key for encryption and a different key for decryption. Although

cryptography

the keys are related, it is not possible to calculate the decryption key from only the encryption

 

key in any reasonable amount of computation time. In most practical systems, the public key

 

system is used for encoding a session key which is used with a symmetric system to encode the

 

actual data. RSA is an example of a public key algorithm.

RDN

See relative distinguished name.

relative

One or more attribute/value pairs stored on an LDAP server that uniquely identify an entry from

distinguished

its sibling in an object tree.

name

 

Resolver library

A BIND library that sends queries to one or more name servers and interprets the responses. See

 

BIND.

secret key

Part of a symmetric cipher in which the same key is used for encryption and decryption. A secure

 

method by which the sender and recipient can agree on the key, SSL encryption uses a secret-key

 

nested within a public key and authenticated through certificates. Secret-key encryption provides

 

faster access than public-key encryption alone. See also public key cryptology.

Secure Socket

See SSL.

Layer

 

Sendmail Mail

The BSD Mail Transport Agent supporting e-mail transport by means of TCP/IP using SMTP. See

Transport Agent

also BSD, SMTP.

session key

A key used for one message or set of messages. In a typical system, a random session key is

 

generated for use with a symmetric algorithm to encode the bulk of the data. Only the session

 

key is communicated using public key encryption. See also public key cryptology.

SHTTP

Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Provides security at the document level rather than the

 

connection level as provided by SSL. This protocol is not widely used.

 

See also HTTPS.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transport Protocol. A protocol used to transfer electronic mail between computers,

 

usually over the Internet. SMTP is a server-to-server protocol; other protocols are used to access

 

messages.

SSL

Secure Socket Layer. A protocol developed by Netscape for encrypted transmission over TCP/IP

 

networks. SSL sets up a secure end-to-end link over which HTTP or any other application protocol

 

can operate. The most common application of SSL isHTTPS for SSL-encrypted HTTP.

TCP/IP

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. Ethernet protocols incorporated into 4.2 BSD

 

UNIX. While TCP and IP specify two protocols, the combined term is used to refer to the entire

 

Department of Defense protocol suite, including telnet and FTP. See also FTP, LDAP, TELNET

 

protocol.

TELNET Protocol

The Internet standard protocol for remote logins. UNIX BSD includes the telnet program, which

 

uses the protocol, and acts as a terminal emulator for remote login sessions.

274 Glossary