Most server software like IMAP & POP, Samba, OpenLDAP, FTP, Apache, and others that ask for users authentication before allowing services, by default transmit the user's identification and password in plain text. Alternatively, encryption mechanisms like SSL ensure safe and secure transactions. With this technology, data going over the network is point-to-point encrypted. Once OpenSSL has been installed on your Linux server you can use it as a third party tool to enable other applications with SSL functionality.