E-commerce, pay-per-use online services, user-authentication and tracking for e-learning, online gaming, contests… What do all of these applications have in common? The need for secure transfer of encrypted data between client workstations and server applications. According to a study by Gartner Consulting, the growing concern for Internet security parallels the evolution of e-business. In the earliest days of Internet development, the emphasis was on distributing content over the web and making it available to anyone. Now, as the Internet matures, clients are more concerned with ensuring that their assets, both monetary and intellectual, are protected from those who may commit fraud or abuse them. This is why more and more developers have been looking for security solutions.

The Technological Challenge
Secure HTTP, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), is the current standard for transmitting secure information over the Internet. The SSL security protocol, developed by Netscape® Communications® Corporation, provides data encryption, server authentication, message integrity, and optional client authentication for a TCP/IP connection. It uses public key cryptography, a technique that uses a pair of asymmetric keys for encryption and decryption. Data is encrypted using a public key, but can only be decrypted using a private key. URLs that use Secure HTTP begin with https://.

Out of the box, Director®-based applications can only offer Secure HTTP connections through Shockwave® within a browser. There is no way to ensure secure communications from a projector. Likewise, there is no efficient way to debug Secure HTTP communications in Director’s authoring environment.

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