{"id":559,"date":"2023-04-21T09:28:40","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T09:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/certerassl.com\/blog\/?p=559"},"modified":"2024-04-08T11:14:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T11:14:25","slug":"know-what-is-ssl-offloading-and-how-it-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/certera.com\/blog\/know-what-is-ssl-offloading-and-how-it-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Know What is SSL Offloading and How it Works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SSL Offloading: A Breakthrough in Secure Data Transmission<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In today’s world of technology, ensuring that your website is secured against cyber-attacks is essential. SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption is one of the most effective techniques for doing this. SSL protects sensitive data by encrypting the traffic between the user’s browser and the website’s server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, SSL can frequently add overhead, slowing down website loading times. SSL offloading comes into action here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is SSL Offloading?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"What<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When data is transmitted via SSL\/TLS Encryption, the web server encrypts and\/or decrypts your online traffic; this process places a significant burden on the web server, which has an impact on its performance sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SSL offloading is used to reduce the additional load of encrypting traffic on the server; it removes SSL encryption from incoming data before it reaches the web server. SSL offloading is a method of managing the SSL process on a separate Network-Device (known as a Load Balancer) so that it has no impact on the web server’s performance, resulting in faster loading times for the users<\/em>. This is majorly essential for websites that receive an excessive amount of traffic or contain resource-intensive apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How SSL Offloading Work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SSL traffic is prevalent since every internet browser is compatible with the SSL\/TLS protocol. The SSL offloading process is assigned to a separate device (it may be a load balancer or reverse proxy) dedicated to SSL acceleration or SSL termination. SSL certificate works<\/a> by encrypting data using cryptographic keys. Earlier RSA keys with increasing key lengths (e.g., 1024 bits and 2048 bits) were one of the most often used cryptographic keys. However, shorter key length ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) keys are replacing RSA keys as the method for encrypting communications.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"SSL<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Mainly, SSL offloading is handled by a load balancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The load balancer is placed between the browser and the webserver to handle the task instead of the server. To execute this process, the load balancer utilizes the same SSL certificate that was previously provided to the server. A load balancer can do this task in two ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. SSL Termination<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. SSL bridging<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s discuss the types of SSL offloading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Types of SSL Offloading:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    SSL Termination<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    In this method, SSL traffic is encrypted at the load balancer, and the load balancer sends the decrypted traffic to the web server; this offloading is widely utilized since it minimizes the server’s computing cost, consequently increasing server speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"SSL<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Advantages of SSL Termination:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n