Lecture 2 - MiTM

Question 1

What does MITM stand for?

Answer 1

Man In the Middle Attack

Question 2

What is a man in the middle attack?

Answer 2

A man in the middle (MITM) attack is a general term for when a perpetrator positions himself in a conversation between a user and an application—either to eavesdrop or to impersonate one of the parties, making it appear as if a normal exchange of information is underway.

-> data can be modified or read by the attacker

Question 3

What is the goal of a MITM?

Answer 3

Typically to steal personal information e.g. bank details

Question 4

What are the types of a MITM attack?

Answer 4

• Wifi eaverdropping (typically executed on public wifi)
• DNS Spoofing (a fraudulent web server which will redirect the targeted user to a malicious website under the attacker’s control)
• IP Spoofing (attacker imitates approved IP address)
• ARP Spoofing (fraudulent response, typically on LAN)
• E-mail Hacking (kind of link phishing)

Question 5

How to defend against a MITM?

Answer 5

• wireless access point encryption
• using a VPN
• Strong user credentials
• Public key pair authentication (using keys to secure the transmission channel)