This document summarizes the HTTPS protocol. It discusses how HTTPS provides authentication of websites and servers to protect against man-in-the-middle attacks. It also provides bidirectional encryption of communications over the internet. Additionally, it notes that HTTPS encrypts the entirety of the underlying HTTP protocol, including request URLs, parameters, headers, and cookies. Finally, it clarifies that HTTPS is not performance heavy and can be deployed on existing equipment when used with technologies like SPDY that reduce page load times.