How secure is SSL?

Question

How secure is SSL (Secure Socket Layer)? As in, how much will it take to crack a password sent through SSL?

Answer 1

From the mathematical standpoint, assuming you have a proper implementation and ignoring the possibility of currently unknown side-channel attacks, or currently unknown mathematical vulnerabilities, it should take vastly longer than the age of the universe to brute force a private key.

However, side-channel attacks and other forms of attacks against the implementation are very real and need to be taken seriously. That includes things like man in the middle attacks, lousy SSL cert authorities, physical attacks to the host, etc.