What secure solution should be recommended for encrypting transactions in an e-commerce application?

For encrypting transactions in an e-commerce application, the recommended solution is TLS (Transport Layer Security). TLS is widely used to provide secure communication over a computer network. This protocol ensures that data transmitted between the client and server is encrypted, preventing unauthorized access and data breaches during transmission.

TLS offers several important features that are particularly suitable for e-commerce transactions, including data integrity, encryption, and authentication of both parties involved in the communication. This is crucial for protecting sensitive information such as credit card details and personal information during online transactions.

Other options like AES 256 refer specifically to an encryption standard rather than a complete protocol for secure communication across a network. While AES 256 is a strong encryption algorithm, it does not address the necessary elements of secure transmission and session establishment that TLS does.

IPsec, on the other hand, is generally used for securing Internet Protocol (IP) communications by authenticating and encrypting each IP packet in a communication session, but it is often used for site-to-site VPNs and not standard web transactions, making it less suitable for e-commerce applications.

AH/ESP (Authentication Header/Encapsulating Security Payload) are components of IPsec that provide data integrity and confidentiality, respectively, but they are not as user-friendly