A MitM attack is a form of cyber attack where the attacker gets between two other people or organizations and can both listen in and modify the information being exchanged if they wish to do so. Think, for instance, you are communicating with a friend through a messenger, but somebody malicious is listening and sometimes shifts what you type or read without your awareness. That is to an extent what occurs in a MitM attack, where a malicious user intercepts messages that are sent between other two or more users.
Such an attack may take place on different conditions, for instance, on an unsecured, common Wi-Fi, when an attacker can provide a seemingly secure connection or monitor communications. Another example is email interception, whereby the hacker is able to get into the victim’s mail account and even reply-thus being able to read the mail content. The next is the session hijacking is a method, where an attacker attempts to get unauthorized access to session cookies and pretend being the client, getting to the confidential information.
Among them, the most widespread is HTTPS spoofing. Here, the attacker leads your browser to think that it is communicating with a secure site when in the real sense, they are not hence can intercept the passed information. DNS spoofing is another technique; the attacker changes your Domain Name System (DNS) lookup and directs you to a site that is a replica of the original site, but a phishing site – a site created to capture your information.
Therefore, how do you guard yourself? Lastly, make sure you use URLs with HTTPS and avoid accessing the internet on public Wi-Fi if possible, and if you have to, do use a VPN. Using 2FA will also help to make it extremely difficult for a hacker to penetrate the account even if they have the login credentials.
In essence, MitM attacks are possible and dangerous but you do not have to fall victim to them if you take the necessary measures in protecting your communication.
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