Is that secure : <form action=

Is that secure :

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Subject Author Date
Is that secure :
caolla 03-15-2007
Posted by on March 15, 2007, 1:14 pm
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Hi all !

I'd like some advices about SSL and HTTPS.
Could someone tell me the difference about security between this
cases :

Let's take the yahoo mail example :

1. From a local html page on his hard drive, a user send his id/pwd
through a form like this <form action="https://... method="post" ...

that is similar to the real one on Yahoo mail login page.

2. The same but done directly from the https yahoo site.

Am I wrong if I say that case 1 is not secure ?

Am I wrong if I say that before considering the transaction as secure,
the client has to be connected first one time to the server ? This
allows the client to check the certificate, to use it to create a
session key that is then sent to the server ? Is this process could be
done in case 1 ?

Thanks a lot in advance !!!


Posted by Barry Margolin on March 16, 2007, 12:59 am
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caolla@hotmail.com wrote:

> Hi all !
>
> I'd like some advices about SSL and HTTPS.
> Could someone tell me the difference about security between this
> cases :
>
> Let's take the yahoo mail example :
>
> 1. From a local html page on his hard drive, a user send his id/pwd
> through a form like this <form action="https://... method="post" ...
>
> that is similar to the real one on Yahoo mail login page.
>
> 2. The same but done directly from the https yahoo site.
>
> Am I wrong if I say that case 1 is not secure ?
>
> Am I wrong if I say that before considering the transaction as secure,
> the client has to be connected first one time to the server ? This
> allows the client to check the certificate, to use it to create a
> session key that is then sent to the server ? Is this process could be
> done in case 1 ?
>
> Thanks a lot in advance !!!

You're wrong. Every HTTP or HTTPS connection is independent, and the
certificate is checked each time you make a new HTTPS connection. It
doesn't matter where you came from.

--
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***
*** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group ***

Posted by on March 16, 2007, 7:29 am
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Thank you for your answer but if so, I'd like to understand why Yahoo
mail http://edit.europe.yahoo.com/config/mail?.intl=uk (and others)
offers 2 choices : "MODE: Standard | Secure" and in the standard mode,
the form action is https.

Is that just for the users but it has no technical effects ???

Thanks in advance !


Posted by Sebastian Gottschalk on March 16, 2007, 12:54 pm
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caolla@hotmail.com wrote:

> Thank you for your answer but if so, I'd like to understand why Yahoo
> mail http://edit.europe.yahoo.com/config/mail?.intl=uk (and others)
> offers 2 choices : "MODE: Standard | Secure" and in the standard mode,
> the form action is https.
>
> Is that just for the users but it has no technical effects ???
>
> Thanks in advance !

Standard == Insecure

Posted by on March 16, 2007, 2:15 pm
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Sebastian, you're then saying the opposite of what Barry said.

In standard mode, the current page use HTTP but the action of the
HTML form where you type your password directs you on a HTTPS page.

So, is this secure or not ? If yes, why Yahoo and others offer 2
choices that are technically identical ?

Thanks !



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