Planning Secure Communications
In an e-commerce site, clients use their browser to send sensitive information, such as credit card numbers. This sensitive data is transmitted and processed throughout your commerce network. For implementing secure data transport, you use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). SSL is a scheme for protocols such as HTTP (named HTTPS when secure), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). When you use SSL to secure a communication channel:
The data is encrypted.
An encrypted channel is established between the source and destination servers.
Server authentication is enabled.
This topic provides information to help you plan a secure Microsoft Commerce Server 2009 R2 deployment by providing recommendations for secure communication channels. It provides detailed information about where secure communication is required in a Commerce Server 2009 R2 network in order to protect sensitive commerce data transmitted during e-commerce transactions.