Encryption of data between Mac application and PHP application

Question

I am new to the whole encryption world, and I wish to build a Mac application which interacts with a PHP application in order to access and manipulate data remotely. My problem is that I can't just transfer plain data over the internet, as most of the data being transfered can be very private, as well as username and password are passed for authentication of the user.

I would like to know what kind of encryption/decryption methods I need to use in order the data will be transfered safely over the internet.

Shillo.

Answer 1

The easiest thing to use is SSL with HTTPS. This is well supported by just about any system and HTTP library. No additional encryption is typically necessary.

To do this, you simply need to purchase an SSL certificate and install it on your web server. You can generate one on your own for free, but a certificate authenticated by a 3rd party is often preferred.