SSL LIBRARY

An SSL Library is a programming library that secures communications. SSL is a standard way of establishing communication between two devices over a network where others could be “listening in” on the conversation.  After establishing the secure link, the SSL library will encrypt the communications. In summary, an SSL library performs the task of ensuring that two points on the Internet are communicating securely and nobody can spy on that communication.

The SSL protocol, along with the more recent TLS 1.2 protocol, are both well documented and under constant scrutiny by the top experts in security and cryptography. SSL was quickly adopted as a standard world wide. SSL and TLS together secure communications between billions of computers, servers, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and embedded systems. The security provided by an SSL/TLS Library depends on the underlying strength of its cryptography which is used to encrypt communications.

wolfSSL was originally developed for embedded systems, IoT devices, and memory constrained devices. Due to its small footprint, wolfSSL’s TLS/SSL library is also proven to be cost effective in highly scalable cloud environments because it allows each server to handle many more connections than if those servers were using OpenSSL. We actively maintain an OpenSSL compatibility layer to allow for simple “drop-in” replacement for any systems currently using OpenSSL. wolfSSL is dual licensed with GPLv2 license for open source projects and a commercial license option that includes dedicated engineering support and product line licensing options tailored for the client’s needs. wolfSSL’s support line is always open on our forums or via support@wolfssl.com

Due to the major modifications to the SSL 3.0 protocol, it’s successor was renamed to TLS 1.0. The newer TLS 1.2 standard is accessible by the public allowing Universities and researchers to carefully review and study the standard. The public standard can be modified in the event a vulnerability is found. This helps to ensure the strongest security is always in place. wolfSSL is always on the leading edge implementing the newest changes and meeting the latest industry standards once they are released. We encourage all of our clients to use TLS 1.2 as it is the latest and provides the strongest security for your embedded systems, servers or IOT devices.

In order to meet the SSL or TLS standards a library that claims to be such must provide specific functionality. Among these functions are symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic operations, general network operations, message digest operations, and X.509 certificate parsing. These operations perform the following tasks:

• Symmetric Cryptographic Operations: Encrypts the data before it leaves the host system
  
• Asymmetric Cryptographic Operations: Authenticate and identify other parties privy to the connection
  
• Network Operations: Send and receive the protocol packets
  
• Message Digest Operations: Protect the integrity of the information sent over the wire
  
• X.509 certificate parsing: Verifies the identity of the participating parties in the connection
  

Developers have access to all these operations within wolfSSL and can use our TLS library to implement SSL or TLS in any application on nearly any device or system. If developers are working with an operating system that we don’t currently support, we’ll work with those developers to implement the support as needed. Developing a project with network connectivity in a reduced memory environment such as an IoT device or embedded application? No problem. That is what wolfSSL was designed for!

Email: facts@wolfssl.com

Phone: +1 (425) 245-8247