Common Fields in HTTPS Server Certificates | CCIE Security Exam

Which field in an HTTPS server certificate is compared to a server name in the URL?

Prev Question Next Question

Question

Which field in an HTTPS server certificate is compared to a server name in the URL?

Answers

Explanations

Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer

A. B. C. D.

A.

The correct answer is A. Common Name.

HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is a protocol used for secure communication over the internet. It relies on the use of SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security) to provide encryption and authentication between a client (such as a web browser) and a server (such as a website).

When a client connects to an HTTPS server, the server presents a digital certificate to the client to authenticate itself. This certificate contains information about the server, including its public key, the organization that issued the certificate, and the server's domain name.

The field in the certificate that is compared to the server name in the URL is called the Common Name (CN). The CN is typically the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the server, such as www.example.com. When the client connects to the server, it compares the server name in the URL to the CN in the certificate. If they match, the client can trust that it is communicating with the correct server and that the communication is secure.

The Issuer Name field in the certificate contains information about the organization that issued the certificate. The Organization and Organizational Unit fields contain information about the organization that owns the server. These fields are not used to compare to the server name in the URL.

In summary, when connecting to an HTTPS server, the CN field in the server's digital certificate is compared to the server name in the URL to authenticate the server and ensure secure communication.