In today’s digital world, trust is everything. Whether you are logging into your bank, shopping online, or connecting systems inside a company, you want two things:
- To be sure you are talking to the right system.
- To keep your conversation private and secure.
This is where two important security protocols come in:
- TLS – Transport Layer Security
- mTLS – Mutual Transport Layer Security
Both help secure communication, but they work slightly differently. And here’s why this matters for us in the ServiceNow world: when connecting a MID Server, you actually have an option to use mTLS instead of basic username and password authentication. We will explore that in an upcoming article, but first, let’s understand TLS and mTLS in simple terms.
TLS: The Club with a Bouncer
Imagine a nightclub with a tough-looking bouncer at the door.
- The bouncer shows you their badge to prove they work there.
- You trust them, and once inside, your conversations are private.
That’s TLS (Transport Layer Security). The website (or server) proves it’s genuine, and your connection stays encrypted. But the bouncer doesn’t really check your ID—you just get in as a guest.
mTLS: The VIP Lounge
Now imagine there’s a VIP section. The rules are stricter:
- The bouncer shows you their badge.
- You also show your membership card.
- Both sides check each other before letting you in.
That’s mTLS (Mutual Transport Layer Security). It’s not just one-way trust—it’s two-way trust. Both you and the server prove who you are before starting the private conversation.
Sourced from Internet
Why This Matters
TLS is perfectly fine for everyday needs like browsing the web, shopping online, or logging into accounts. It protects your privacy and keeps impostors from sneaking in.
But in high security environments — think banking systems, healthcare platforms, or government networks — one way trust is not enough. That is where mTLS steps in. It locks both sides of the connection with a double key, making sure that only trusted devices and trusted users can talk to each other.
Summary
TLS and mTLS are two levels of digital trust:
- TLS (Transport Layer Security): “I know who you are.”
- mTLS (Mutual Transport Layer Security): “We both know who each other are.”
Both keep data safe, but mTLS goes further by building true mutual trust.
And here is the connection to our world: in ServiceNow, instead of relying only on basic username and password authentication for the MID Server, we can configure it with mTLS for stronger, end to end security.
That is exactly what we will explore in the next article.
