Developer(s) | The OpenSSL Project |
---|---|
Initial release | 1998 |
Stable release |
1.1.0f (May 25, 2017 |
Preview release | 1.1.0 beta 3 (August 4, 2016 | )
Repository | github |
Written in | C, assembly |
Type | Security library |
License | Apache License 1.0 and four-clause BSD License |
Website | www |
1.1.0f (May 25, 2017
OpenSSL is a software library to be used in applications that need to secure communications over computer networks against eavesdropping or need to ascertain the identity of the party at the other end. It has found wide use in internet web servers, serving a majority of all web sites.
OpenSSL contains an open-source implementation of the SSL and TLS protocols. The core library, written in the C programming language, implements basic cryptographic functions and provides various utility functions. Wrappers allowing the use of the OpenSSL library in a variety of computer languages are available.
Versions are available for most Unix and Unix-like operating systems (including Solaris, Linux, macOS, QNX, and the various open-source BSD operating systems), OpenVMS and Microsoft Windows. IBM provides a port for the System i (OS/400).
The OpenSSL project was founded in 1998 to invent a free set of encryption tools for the code used on the Internet. It is based on a fork of SSLeay by Eric Andrew Young and Tim Hudson, development of which unofficially ended on December 17, 1998, when Young and Hudson both started to work for RSA Security.
The OpenSSL project management team consists of four people, and the entire development group consists of 11 members, out of which 10 are volunteers; there is only one full-time employee, Stephen Henson, the lead developer.