SSL Connections over a proxy using JSSE

The Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) enables secure Internet communications. It provides a framework and an implementation for a Java version of the SSL and TLS protocols and includes functionality for data encryption, server authentication, message integrity, and optional client authentication. Using JSSE, developers can provide for the secure passage of data between a client and a server running any application protocol, such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Telnet, or FTP, over TCP/IP.

The https protocol is similar to http, but https first establishes a secure channel via SSL/TLS sockets and then verifies the identity of the peer before requesting/receiving data. javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection extends the java.net.HttpsURLConnection class, and adds support for https-specific features. Upon obtaining a HttpsURLConnection, you can configure a number of http/https parameters before actually initiating the network connection via the method URLConnection.connect.

In some situations, it is desirable to specify the SSLSocketFactory that an HttpsURLConnection instance uses. For example, you may wish to tunnel through a proxy type which is NOT supported by the default implementation. The new SSLSocketFactory could return sockets that have already performed all necessary tunneling, thus allowing HttpsURLConnection to use additional proxies.

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References:

1. JSSE Reference Guide for Java SE6
2. JSSE Reference Guide for Java SE6 - Hostname Verifier
3. javadoc: javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory
   
4. javadoc: javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection
5. javadoc: java.net.URLConnection
6. javadoc: java.net.URL.openConnection()