Man-in-the-middle attacks occur when an eavesdropper places themselves between a particular user and software or an application to appear as a legal entity. The purpose of the eavesdropper is to steal credit card details, account logins, etc. Let’s now consider the probable attack series.
Man In The Middle Attack Series
The man in the middle attack has a series of stages: interception and decryption. The Intruders start the interception by intercepting the user’s pathways by their networks. Let’s consider their evil networks.
The intruders do make unprotected Wi-Fi Hotspots available for people who seek free Wi-Fis. Once a user gets connected to an intruder’s Wi-Fi, the intruder will gain access to the user’s private information.
After the first attack has been made through interception, attackers proceed to decryption. For example, intruders can decrypt by sending fake certificates to the browsers of victims of interception; once certificates are sent, victims’ browsers will establish a digital thumbprint with the applications of the intruders, and attacks become stronger.
So how do we prevent Man In The Middle Attacks? Axient recommends the followings as the basic prevention measures:
1. Risk Profile Assessment. Every business should assess their risk profile at: https://www.axient.com.au/security-assessment-and-training-tool
2. Every employee should avoid using public HotSpot
3. Avoid unsecured browsing
4. Organisations should use protected communication protocols like HTTPS and TLS.
5. Logging out your applications after use
6. Finally, individuals should guard against these attacks by taking preventive measures listed in this post and all organisations should use AI powered Endpoint Detection and Response for genuine security.
If you’d like to learn more about other ways to secure your company assets from Man-In-The-Middle Attacks contact us.