Man in the Middle Attack

Description

A man in the middle attack occurs when the attacker intercepts messages sent between you and your intended recipient. The attacker then changes your message and sends it to the original recipient. The recipient receives the message, sees that it came from you, and acts on it. When the recipient sends a message back to you, the attacker intercepts it, alters it, and returns it to you. You and your recipient never know that you have been attacked.

Any network request involving client-server communication, including Web requests, Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) requests, and calls to remote components and Web services, are subject to man in the middle attacks.

Vulnerabilities

• Communication channel is insecure (lacking confidentiality and integrity protection)

Countermeasures

• Utilize SSL or IPSec w/ Encryption to establish a secure communication channel