{"id":5802,"date":"2018-02-01T11:37:03","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T16:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/?p=5802"},"modified":"2020-12-09T16:19:11","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T21:19:11","slug":"man-in-the-middle-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/man-in-the-middle-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Man-in-the-Middle Attack? How do you prevent one?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t let the man in the middle fool you<\/h2>\n

You may have heard the term \u2018Man-in-the-middle (MiTM) Attack.\u2019 You may even have a blurred idea of it. But you\u2019re still wondering \u2018What exactly is a Man-in-the-middle attack?\u2019 Right? Let us hash it out for you. As implied in the name itself, this kind of attack occurs when an unauthorized entity places him\/herself in between two communicating systems and tries to intercept the ongoing transfer of information. To put it simply, an MiTM attack is a modern-day version of bugging. <\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll get more into the man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attacks in a minute but first look around you. Look at your smartphone, look at the apps in it, look at your PC, look at those smart-connected devices gossiping with each other, look at the website you\u2019re on right now. Had a good look at them? Good. Now take a step back and think about everything you just looked at. What\u2019s driving all these things? The answer would be data\/information. The thing about data is that it travels. Whether it\u2019s from one PC to another, one server to another, one country to another \u2013 data knows no bounds.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, all this traveling brings in the inevitable questions of security and privacy. When data leaves from one end-point to another, the period of transmission is where the control over it is somewhat lost. When an attacker positions him\/herself in between the end-points and intercepts and\/or tampers with this data-in-transit, it\u2019s called a man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attack. In layman\u2019s terms, it\u2019s a lot like eavesdropping.<\/p>\n<\/span>\n

That’s right, when you try to overhear a conversation between two people without them knowing, it\u2019s kind of like a man-in-the-middle attack. I personally like to do my snooping with my headphones over my ears, but turned off. And just to be clear with my colleagues, I don\u2019t do this in the office\u2026 for the most part.<\/p>\n

\"man-in-the-middle
Have you seen this man? No. Probably not.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, What Exactly is a Man-in-the-middle Attack?<\/h2>\n

While data transmission is taking place between a device (PC\/Phone) and web server, an attacker using his skills and tools places him\/herself between two endpoints and intercepts the data. While the two parties believe that they’re talking to each other, they’re communicating with (and through) the perpetrator in reality. That\u2019s what a man-in-the-middle attack is.<\/p>\n

Basically, it\u2019s a con trick.<\/p>\n

These attacks not only take place during device-server communication, but they also can occur wherever two systems are exchanging data virtually.<\/p>\n

How does it work?<\/h2>\n

When it comes to MiTM attacks, there isn\u2019t just one single method that can cause damage\u2014there are four! Generally speaking, there are Sniffing, Packet Injection, Session Hijacking<\/a>, and SSL Stripping. Let\u2019s have a brief look at them.<\/p>\n