Archives for July, 2010.

In the previous article that we did on a JavaScript implementation of TLS, we explained why we created Forge, which we released as open source software. To summarize, before Forge, there was no easy way to access a home computer using just JavaScript and Flash – technologies that exist in 98.9% of all browsers. With Forge, application providers such as Google Docs can now provide access to your home computer in a way that is safe and secure…

Digital Bazaar has written a pure JavaScript TLS client implementation and released it as open source software. The project is called Forge.

To our knowledge a JavaScript implementation of TLS has never been done before. But, if you are a developer, you might be thinking: Wow, that sounds completely inane. Is this just another case of a bored developer engaged in an esoteric demonstration that something crazy is possible? It is useful. We promise.

If you are not a developer, you might be wondering what TLS is and what JavaScript has to do with it at all. Well, first, TLS stands for Transport Layer Security and is just the fancy name behind what makes “https” websites secure. You may have heard of SSL (Secure Socket Layer) before. TLS is the latest version of SSL and is more appropriately named because data does not have to travel over a “socket”; it can be transported in many different ways. So why would someone think a JavaScript TLS implementation is useful?