TLS (Transport Layer Security) protects data exchanged over a network and is used by HTTPS. SSL is an older predecessor that is obsolete; people still write “SSL/TLS” when referring broadly to secure web connections, but modern deployments should use supported TLS versions.
Diagnosing a TLS failure
Certificate errors can indicate a hostname mismatch, an expired or untrusted certificate, a wrong system clock, or an intermediary changing the connection. Keep certificate verification enabled. Disabling it removes an important security check and can expose credentials or data to interception.
When debugging, capture the error message, hostname, client version, and network path. A proxy may tunnel TLS or terminate it, which changes what certificate the client sees. Do not assume an HTTP status exists if the handshake failed before HTTP began.
Protocol and cipher support can change over time. Follow current browser and library guidance rather than enabling old SSL versions for compatibility.
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