What is the relationship between SSL, TLS, and Cloudflare?

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) are cryptographic protocols that provide secure communication over a network. TLS is the successor to SSL and is the current standard. Cloudflare acts as a reverse proxy and CDN (Content Delivery Network) that often handles SSL/TLS encryption and termination. This means Cloudflare encrypts traffic between the user and Cloudflare's servers, then decrypts it and forwards it to your origin server. This offloads the encryption process from your server, improving performance and security.