Which option is commonly used to secure communications by encrypting requests and responses on the web?

• A. HTTPS/TLS encryption
• B. SSH
• C. FTP
• D. ICMP

Answer: (A)

Securing web communications hinges on encrypting the data that travels between a browser and a web server so that requests and responses can’t be read or tampered with in transit. TLS provides confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. In practice, the browser and server perform a TLS handshake, verify the server’s certificate, agree on a cipher suite, and establish session keys. After the handshake, all HTTP traffic is sent over this encrypted channel, which is what HTTPS uses. This is why HTTPS/TLS encryption is the standard way to protect web traffic.

The other options serve different purposes: SSH is for secure remote access to systems, not for protecting typical web requests/responses; FTP is a file transfer protocol that isn’t encrypted by default (unless using FTPS/SFTP); ICMP is a network diagnostic protocol and doesn’t secure web communications.