Encryption is the process of transforming information so it can't be decrypted or read by anyone except the intended recipient. This encrypted information is called ciphertext . It is the ciphertext that you send across the network. For example, suppose you have a financial report stored at your web site. If SSL is enabled on your server, your server encrypts the report and sends the ciphertext to a client, who then decrypts the ciphertext back into the financial report.
Decryption reverses the process, turning the ciphertext back into the original message.
Only the recipient can decrypt the text because only the recipient has the key. In fact, both the encryption and the decryption processes require keys. Client-server communication with SSL uses two keys. The encryption key is called the public key , and the decryption key is the private key . A client and server exchange public keys.