HTTPS protocol behavior, data structure, and analysis
Now, the major problem with the HTTP protocol is that the data transmission is completely unencrypted, which means an attacker can steal, alter, or view the ongoing traffic between the client and the server. To capture, there are many tools available, such as Wireshark, Fiddler, HTTPView, and Network Analyzer. But for the best view, Wireshark is much more compatible and user-friendly to use, so we will also be using that for our testing. Let’s demonstrate HTTP’s weakness using Wireshark:
Figure 14.4 – A sniffed HTTP request
As shown in Figure 14.4, Wireshark captured the unencrypted login request transmitted via an unsecured HTTP channel.
To prevent this, another layer of security was added by introducing the Transport Layer Security (TLS), formerly known as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL). So, let’s understand this with a practical demonstration:
