Cisco Cisco ScanSafe Web Filtering Data Sheet

 

 

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. 

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White Paper 

HTTPS Inspection with Cisco CWS 

 

What is HTTPS? 

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a secure version of the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It is 

a combination of HTTP and a cryptographic protocol Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). The HTTPS protocol leverages 
SSL’s encryption and secure identification of web server capabilities to enable secure web transactions. 

 

HTTPS connections are often used by web browsers and applications for transactions of sensitive financial and 

personal information, both for personal and corporate intentions.  

 

When a user connects to a website via HTTPS, the Web site encrypts the session with a digital certificate that is 

signed by a trusted third party. Most commonly used web browsers display a padlock or similar icon to indicate that 
the website is secure and the site’s URL begins with https:// instead of http://. 

 

HTTPS Trends 

The proportion of HTTPS traffic is rapidly growing, and this is seen in popular websites and also evident in the  

web traffic patterns that Cisco sees. 

 

 

Google and Yahoo enforce HTTPS for all web searches, webmail, and other provided services.  
Other sites are rapidly following suit. 

 

In many countries, all Government hosted websites must comply to HTTPS for all transactions. 

 

It is good practice for any financial and healthcare websites to adhere to HTTPS. 

 

Most cloud based applications and services such as file sharing have deployed HTTPS as the standard. 

 

Facebook, LinkedIn and other popular Social and Business Networking sites all encrypt web traffic via 
HTTPS.