URL encoding, also known as percent-encoding, is a mechanism for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) under certain circumstances. This technique involves replacing unsafe ASCII characters with a "%" followed by two hexadecimal digits that represent the character's ASCII code. This is necessary for embedding characters that are not allowed in URLs directly, such as spaces and symbols, or characters that have special meanings within URLs, ensuring that the URL is correctly interpreted by web browsers and servers.
[References:The concept of URL encoding is fundamental to web application security, a topic that is covered in the ECIH v3 program by EC-Council. Understanding encoding techniques is crucial for incident handlers dealing with web-based attacks and investigations., , ]
