What is the purpose of a security protocol?

The primary purpose of a security protocol is to ensure safe information exchange. Security protocols establish rules and conventions for securely transmitting data over networks. They achieve this by incorporating various mechanisms such as encryption, authentication, and integrity checks. By safeguarding data during transmission, security protocols help protect against eavesdropping, tampering, and unauthorized access, thereby maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of the information exchanged.

In the context of secure communication, protocols like TLS (Transport Layer Security) and HTTPS (HTTP Secure) exemplify how data is encrypted during transmission, ensuring that even if intercepted, the information remains unreadable to unauthorized parties. This focus on creating a secure environment for data exchange underscores the central role of security protocols in information security.

Options that address managing interactions, routing tables, or formatting data may relate to important networking functions, but they do not primarily focus on the security aspects of data transmission, which is why they do not align with the main purpose of a security protocol.