What is HTTP? Difference Between HTTP and HTTPS

Today, the internet is used by almost everyone. Whenever you open a browser to search for something through the Internet, you will see some words, HTTP and HTTPS in the address bar of the browser. Looking at these words, the question must have been raised in your mind what is HTTP or what is HTTPS? What’s the difference between HTTP and HTTPS?

If you want to know what HTTP is, read this post carefully.

You may have seen that not secure with HTTP and green lock symbol and secure with HTTPS are written, today in this post we will also talk about why HTTPS is secure. Here you also get confused by seeing why the addresses of different websites are not in different formats. To get the answers to all these questions, let’s get started and know what HTTP is.

Table of Contents

What is HTTP?

HTTP is a type of Internet protocol whose full name is Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It is a protocol that accesses data on the World Wide Web. It is a computer communication protocol used for communication on the web around the world.

A protocol is a set of rules that actually operate the client/server between your web browser and the web page. As the name suggests, this HTTP is a text transfer protocol, so we can see everything we see on any website only through HTTP.

As I mentioned earlier, HTTP is written before the address of a website (e.g. http://www.abc.com). When there is any kind of data such as text, audio, video, image, etc. between a browser and a server, they have to follow certain rules and these rules are determined by the HTTP protocol. Through the protocol, it is determined what the format and transmission of the data to be transferred will be and what the response of the browser and server will be to different commands.

How does HTTP work?

As I’ve already mentioned, HTTP is a communication protocol. It creates communication between the client and the server. When a client requests a website server, HTTP accepts that request and establishes communication between the client and the server through TCP. Then HTTP sends the request to the server, all the files are stored on the server. From here, HTTP draws the requested information and transmits it to the client.

HTTP Error Code

The HTTP error code is a response sent by the client to the server’s request. For example, when your client (your web browser) tries to connect to the server. These responses include redirects, server errors, client errors, etc. HTTP error codes are not related to web pages, instead, they are responses received from the server on how to process the request.

The 7 Most Common HTTP Error Codes

1. 401 Unauthorized

401 is the first error code on our list. The 401 error indicates that the server has received an unauthorized request. When this error occurs, the system displays a message that states that the page cannot be loaded because of invalid credentials for various reasons.

2. 404 not found

404 is a common HTTP error code on the internet. This HTTP response will occur when the page the user is looking for is not found on the server. There may be many reasons behind the 404 error. Maybe because the webmaster didn’t create the page or the URL you entered is incorrect (because it’s a client error).

3. 500 internal server error

A 500 internal server error is a common error, it occurs when a problem occurs in your server. There are many different reasons for this, including WordPress plugins, PHP, databases, etc.

4. 502 Bad Gateway

Unlike other HTTP error codes, 502 is different. When one server on the Internet receives an invalid response from another server, a bad gateway error occurs. When the server takes longer than expected to complete the request, the 502 HTTP status code will appear on the screen.

5. 301 Moved Permanently

HTTP 301 is an error of moving a specific web page permanently to another URL. This by itself is not an error, but it conveys important information. This can be at the page level where you can point to another similar post (or even homepage) or domain at that page level. In simple words, any webpage on another URL is called Permanently Redirect 301 Redirect.

6. Discovery 302

It is similar to the HTTP status code 301 but is used for temporary redirection. This response tells Google that the page has been temporarily redirected and will return to the original URL at some point. If done correctly, it will redirect the user to another URL in a few seconds.

7. 410 went

This is similar to the 410 Gone error 404 error. Think of it as permanently 404. When webmasters decide to permanently delete a post or page or restore it to another site, they can use this code.

410 Feedback informs Google that the requested resource has been permanently removed from the Internet and will not reappear. This way, you can easily crawl or index web pages from Google.

Why isn’t HTTP secure?

If you’re looking at the “Not Secure” warning, it’s because the web page or website you’re visiting isn’t providing a secure connection. If you are using these websites for any transaction etc. then you should avoid these websites.

Login here, providing personal information or giving payment information should be avoided. Browsing such unsecured sites can put you at risk. No secure warning indicates a lack of security for the connection to that page. It is alerting you that the information sent and received with that page is unsafe.

This could potentially be stolen, read, or modified by attackers, hackers, and entities through access to internet infrastructures, such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and governments.

What is HTTPS?

HTTPS stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure. This is the Secured version of HTTP. The HTTPS protocol uses SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols for encrypted transmission and identity authentication. It mainly uses digital certificates, encryption algorithms, asymmetric keys, and other technologies to complete internet data transmission security to obtain internet transmission security.

It communicates data in an encrypted form, unlike HTTP. HTTPS is only related to the client and the server, between which the data cannot be read by any other person. To get HTTPS, both the client and the server have to verify their identity to prove whether the identity of the person who is getting the communication is real or not.

HTTPS is used in security-sensitive communication on the World Wide Web such as transactions, and payments. There are three main goals:

Data confidentiality: To ensure that the data will not be viewed by any third party during transmission. Like the delivery of a package by a courier, all packages are packed, and others can’t know what’s inside.

Data integrity: Periodically check if the data has been tampered with by a third party.

Data Authentication: Here, clients and servers have to do their own identity verity. Just like when we mail a package, although it is a packaged package that has not been replaced, it should be ensured that the package will not be sent in the wrong place, and data authentication is used to make sure that it is sent to the right place.

How does HTTPS work?

HTTPS also works in the same way as HTTP, the only difference here is that through HTTPS all the data is encrypted and transferred from the server to the client. It works on the concept of cryptography. Cryptography is an encrypting method by which plain text is converted into an unreadable format. Due to this, apart from the authorized user, no hackers, etc., can read the information from the third party.

What’s the difference between HTTP and HTTPS?

The main differences between HTTPS and HTTP are as follows:

The full form of HTTP is hypertext transfer protocol. The full form of HTTPS is Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.
Http URLs start with http:// while https URLs start with https://.
HTTPS acts on an SSL certificate that requires a certification authority to apply. HTTP does not require a certificate.
HTTP is a hypertext transmission protocol, where information is transferred to plain text, and HTTPS is a secure SSL encrypted transmission protocol.
HTTP and HTTPS use completely different connection methods and use different ports. It uses HTTP 80 ports and HTTPS 443 ports.
The HTTP connection is very simple and stateless; The HTTPS protocol is a network protocol designed for transmission and identity authentication encrypted by the SSL+ HTTP protocol, which is more secure than the HTTP protocol.

Conclusion

Friends, here I told you what is HTTP, and how HTTP work. What’s the difference between HTTPS and HTTP? What are HTTP error codes?

I hope you liked this information. If you liked this information, share it with your friends and if you have any questions related to HTTP and HTTPS, let us know by commenting. We will try to answer your questions as soon as possible.

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Shivanga Kumar Gogoi

I am Shivanga Kumar Gogoi, owner of the Multigyan.com website. I am a B.Tech degree holder and 21yrs old young entrepreneur from the City of Jorhat, Asam. By profession, I'm an instrumentation engineer, web designer, google webmaster and SEO optimizer. I have deep knowledge of Google AdSense and I am interested in Blogging.

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What is HTTP? Difference Between HTTP and HTTPS

What is HTTP?

How does HTTP work?

HTTP Error Code