SSL mail() or/and mysql

n_wattam

Hi,

I'm pretty much clue less on this topic as i've had no experience with SSL as of yet.

If i was to collect details like credit card data, how does a SSL work in conjunction with PHP to send the details via email secure, or store them in a mysql database.

I'm quite confused to how SSL works.

I read somewhere that using forms you can collect data secure and send it encrypted using a SSL via mail, then at the other end, with the pop account there is a secure setting, to be able to read the mail.

any help on this i would be very greatfull, and some examples would be even better.

cheers

rebelo

SSL doesn't directly relate to email. SSL (Secure Socket Layers) refers to encrypting data being transmitted via TCP/IP (such as http data or possibly email data). When you are collecting sensitive information via a web form, you would want to have the client communicating to your server over SSL (https:// instead of [url]http://)[/url]. That's the "what" and the "why", the "how" is a much more in depth response and there are countless articles on the web (and probably here on phpbuilder.net) which can give you a good start.

n_wattam

Ah... i think i understand a little more now. so for example

If i was to have

https://yourdomain.com/form.php

http://yourdomain.com/form.php

So if i was to have "form.php" which is a basic form that collects details, and then when they click submit it loads another file called "display.php" which would just display all the data collected.

If this was done on a https connection the data would be secure, but on a http it wouldnt?

As the process to send the details and then have them sent back in the form of a display is via a SSL connection.

If sending them details via email or storing them in a MYSQL database then only the email or the MySQL database is the unsecure aspect in the sence of if anyone gains access to the emails or the mysql they could read the data.

EDIT::
What if i was form process covered a few different steps and instead of passing data from one page to the other, i used a session to store all my results so i could move from one page to the next easier and retrieve the data? would this make the https connection useless?