{"id":58555,"date":"2025-08-18T18:09:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T12:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techjockey.com\/blog\/?p=58555"},"modified":"2025-08-18T18:09:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T12:39:59","slug":"what-is-a-man-in-the-middle-mitm-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.techjockey.com\/blog\/what-is-a-man-in-the-middle-mitm-attack","title":{"rendered":"What is a Man in the Middle (MITM) Attack?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Picture yourself sitting in a busy airport lounge, feasting on cake, while trying to catch up on your emails over the free airport Wi-Fi. You suddenly get reminded of an overdue bill and sign in to your bank account to pay it off. As you do, someone sitting somewhere gets access to each and every keystroke, password, and confidential message you send.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, this wasn\u2019t the plot of a cyber-thriller; it\u2019s a real threat, one commonly referred to as the man-in-the-middle attack in cybersecurity. Statistically speaking, MITM attacks account for nearly 19% of successful cyberattacks across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what exactly is a man-in-the-middle attack, and how can you prevent it before your personal or business data ends up with the wrong set of people? Let\u2019s seek to answer\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>What is a Man-in-the-Middle Attack?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack is a cybersecurity threat where a third party secretly intercepts digital communication.
The attacker positions themselves between two parties without their knowledge, making the exchange unsafe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They can steal sensitive information, eavesdrop, or even alter the data being transmitted.
This puts personal, financial, and business information at serious risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MITM attacks can target emails, messages, web browsing, banking, and calls.
The real danger is that victims are often unaware of the interception<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>How Does a Man-in-the-Middle Attack Work in Cyber Security?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To understand how a man-in-the-middle attack in cybersecurity works in practice, consider a classic spy story where two spies communicate using encrypted messages, and an evil genius picks up on these messages and manipulates them before forwarding them back to the two spies. In the digital world we live in, this unfortunately takes only a few milliseconds to accomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two phases\/stages of MITM attacks, as such, are\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Interception<\/strong>: The intruder positions themselves as the middleman between the victim and the targeted receiver. They create a rogue Wi-Fi hotspot with a recognizable name, exploit weaknesses in network protocols, or use malware to take over browser sessions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Decryption & Manipulation<\/strong>: Once they intercept the data, the attacker decrypts it (if encrypted) or reads, steals, and modifies it before sending it to the intended destination. They steal login credentials, credit card details, or emails, alter transactions, or install malware and malicious links on genuine messages.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>Types of Man inthe-Middle Attacks<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The man-in-the-middle attack is not a single technique, but a family of cyber threats, each with its own methods and targets. Find some of the most common types of MITM attacks mentioned below for your understanding\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>1. Wi-Fi Eavesdropping (Wi-Fi Spoofing)<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The criminals create a phony Wi-Fi access point that has a recognizable name, such as Airport Free WiFi or Starbucks Guest. The users unknowingly join the connection, and all their traffic is diverted through the attackers\u2019 device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At the Defcon 2019 hacker conference, security researcher Dave Kennedy set up a fake Wi-Fi network, only to find hundreds of attendees connected to it, with their business accounts, email addresses, and social media passwords all exposed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It was carried out in an attempt to illustrate the ease with which cybercriminals can deceive people into accessing rogue access points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>2. DNS Spoofing<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    DNS spoofing is one of the most common types of man-in-the-middle attacks, wherein an attacker alters the DNS (Domain Name System) cache, i.e., the internet\u2019s address book, in order to redirect users to fake sites despite entering the correct web address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>3. ARP Spoofing (Address Resolution Protocol Spoofing)<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    This scheme works on local networks in that attackers broadcast imitated ARP messages to relate their MAC address to the IP address of another device (like the network gateway). This allows them to intercept data meant for that device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Corporate espionage cases have used ARP spoofing to intercept sensitive emails and documents on internal networks, leading to significant financial and reputational damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>4. IP Spoofing<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    In IP spoofing, attackers fake the IP address of a trusted device to trick the victim into sending private information to them instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>5. SSL Stripping and HTTPS Spoofing<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Attackers change secure HTTPS connections to unsafe HTTP, making it easy for them to see and steal private information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>6. Man-in-the-Browser Attack<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Malware infects the victim\u2019s web browser, intercepting and modifying web traffic in real time. The Zeus banking Trojan, active since 2007, has stolen millions by altering online banking transactions as users submit them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>7. Email Hijacking<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Attackers gain access to email accounts and monitor communications, often inserting themselves into financial transactions. In real estate scams, attackers hijack email threads between buyers and agents, sending fake wire transfer instructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>8. Session Hijacking<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Attackers steal session tokens to impersonate users on websites without needing login credentials. In July 2020, for example, attackers exploited session hijacking by gaining access to Twitter\u2019s internal tools, allowing them to take over high-profile accounts and post fraudulent Bitcoin scam messages, resulting in over $118,000 in theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>Signs You Are Becoming a Victim of a Man-in-the-Middle Attack<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Man-in-the-middle attacks are designed to be stealthy, but there are warning signs that can tip you off\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n