Why is SSL/TLS in Layer 6? It’s used in the Layer 5, and often argued Layer 4 (TLS/Transport Layer Security…). Layer 6 is for .jpg and the such for.. presenting data. I come from the cyber realm so that’s something that immediately stood out to me. Other than that, really enjoying the course so far.
1 Answers
Hi Reck,
Well, the people over at the Cisco forums tried answering this same question….without a solid conclusion. This seemed to be the most comprehensive answer: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/message/566963#566963
Definitely not required to go into this sort of detail for the CSA-P exam…maybe for the Networking Speciality. Generally, Layer 6 is considered to be where encryption/decryption happens among other things and it is true that stuff above Layer 4 get murky and debate-able…like can TLS really be pigeonholed into a single layer of the OSI model.
AWS seems to like to think of SSL as on Layer 6…at least in the cases I’ve found:
https://aws.amazon.com/shield/ddos-attack-protection/
https://d1.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/Security/DDoS_White_Paper.pdf
So, as this is an AWS exam, we should probably go with AWS’s opinion. You’re free to have another opinion though for sure.
–Scott
Hi Scott , Tried opening the link – https://d1.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/Security/DDoSWhitePaper.pdf you specified in the above comment. However I am getting access denied. COuld you share the working link.
Looks like the paper has recently been replaced with an updated version. This should work: https://d1.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/Security/DDoS_White_Paper.pdf
Ah I see. ACG platform doesn’t like the underscores in the URL. In Scott’s post, it converted the underscores to italics. Something to watch out for.