Glossary - Cisco Catalyst 2960 series Configuration Manual

Glossary

Glossary
RSA—RSA is a widely used Internet encryption and authentication system that uses public and private keys
for encryption and decryption. The RSA algorithm was invented in 1978 by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and
Leonard Adleman. The abbreviation RSA comes from the first letter of the last names of the three original
developers. The RSA algorithm is included in many applications, such as the web browsers from Microsoft
and Netscape. The RSA encryption system is owned by RSA Security.
SHA —The Secure Hash Algorithm. SHA was developed by NIST and is specified in the Secure Hash Standard
(SHS, FIPS 180). Often used as an alternative to Digest 5 algorithm.
signatures, digital —In the context of SSL, "signing" means to encrypt with a private key. In digital signing,
one-way hash functions are used as input for a signing algorithm. In RSA signing, a 36-byte structure of two
hashes (one SHA and one MD5) is signed (encrypted with the private key).
SSL 3.0 —Secure Socket Layer version 3.0. SSL is a security protocol that provides communications privacy
over the Internet. The protocol allows client and server applications to communicate in a way that is designed
to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, or message forgery. SSL uses a program layer located between the
Internet's HTTP and TCP layers. SSL is included as part of most web server products and as part of most
Internet browsers. The SSL 3.0 specification can be found at http://home.netscape.com/eng/ssl3/.
Consolidated Platform Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS Release 15.2(4)E (Catalyst 2960-X Switches)
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