What is the difference between "http://" and "https://"?

The word “HTTP” stands for “HyperText Transfer Protocol” which can be said as a necessary protocol for information to be passed back and forth between web servers and clients.

One really does not need to know what it all stands for; the important thing is the letter “S” which makes all the differences between HTTP and HTTPS. The symbol “S” stands for "Secure". One probably may not need me to tell others that, because one already knew it had something to do with the security.

If one visits a website or webpage, and looks at the address in the web browser, it will likely begin with the following: http://. This indicates that the website is talking to one’s browser using the regular 'unsecure' language. In other words, it is possible for someone to "eavesdrop" on one’s computer's conversation with the website. If one fills out a form on the website, someone might see the information one sends to that site.

This is why one should never ever enter one’s credit card number in an http website.

But if the web address begins with https://, that basically means one’s computer is talking to the website in a secure code that no one can eavesdrop on.

If a website ever asks to enter the credit card information, one should automatically check if the web address begins with https://. If it doesn't, there's no way one is going to enter sensitive information like a credit card number!

It should be pointed out that just because a website has that magic "S" in its address, that does not mean it is wise to do business with them; even scam artists can have https sites! It refers  that no outsider can eavesdrop on one’s conversation and thus never means that one should be having the conversation in the first place. It is advisable to do business with reputable firms, or firms one has thoroughly checked out!

There are some primary differences between http and https, however, beginning with the default port, which is 80 for http and 443 for https. Https works by transmitting normal http interactions through an encrypted system, so that the information cannot be accessed by any party other than the client and end server. There are two common types of the encryption layers: Transport Layer Security and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), both of which encode the data records being exchanged.