Attack methods and causes
Man-in-the-middle attack
An attack in which the attacker gets between two parties that are talking to each other, so they can read or change what is sent, like someone opening a letter on its way, reading it and sealing it again. TLS encryption and digital certificates normally stop this, but if a certificate authority's key is weak or leaked and fake certificates can be made, the browser takes the attacker for the real site. Public Wi-Fi or a hijacked router is often where the attacker gets in between.
More terms on this topic
- API abuse
- Backdoor
- Brute-force attack
- Credential stuffing
- CVE identifier
- Dark web / leak site
- DoS / DDoS attack
- Insider misuse
- Malware / computer virus
- Misconfiguration
- Misdelivery
- Phishing
- Ransomware
- Unauthorized access, intrusion and compromise
- Unauthorized login / impersonation
- Vulnerability
- Web vulnerability exploit / SQL injection
- Zero-day attack