Man-in-the-middle attacks are perhaps one of the more complex and sophisticated forms of security breaching approaches. As the name implies, such an attack involves the surreptitious placement of a software agent between the client and server ends of a communication. In this scenario, neither end of the communication is aware that the malicious agent is in the line of communication. For the most part, the man in the middle simply relays the data transmissions between client and server as though nothing is happening. What is generally happening in parallel with this process is that the agent is also recording the data as it is passed through. A man-in-the-middle attack can succeed only when the attacker can impersonate each endpoint to the satisfaction of the other. Such an attack results in a third party gaining access to a variety of different types of data, from login and password credentials to proprietary and confidential information. In addition, it is possible for the man-in-the-middle agent to modify data, causing unsold problems for the victim.
Man-in-the-middle attacks have increased considerably since the introduction of wireless networking. As a result, there is no need for the hacker to connect to a wire. Instead, the data can simply be intercepted from anywhere within range of the wireless signal.
Preventing Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
In order to prevent MITM attacks, some form of endpoint authentication is helpful. Just using public key encryption is not enough to prevent such an attack. As an example, suppose A and B are trying to communicate, and C is trying to intercept said communications. If B sends A his public key and C intercepts it, he can replace B’s public key with his own and send it to A. If A then encrypts a message with C’s public key (believing it to be B’s public key), then when it is sent, C can intercept and read it, decrypting it with his private key. He can also re-encrypt the message using C’s public key and send it to C.
Thus, any private-public key system requires some means of ensuring that a MITM attack does not compromise its integrity. One possible method is public key infrastructures (PKI). The main defense in a mutual authentication. In this case, as well as the application validating the user, the user’s devices validate the application – hence distinguishing rogue applications from genuine applications. Another possibility is a recorded media attestment, which can be either a verbal communication of a shared value for each session, or an audio/visual communication of the public key hash. In addition, stronger mutual authentication, such as secret keys and passwords often helps thwart man-in-the-middle attacks.
Latency examination may be a useful means of detecting man-in-the-middle attacks. For example, if each party performs a long cryptographic hash function calculation that takes 20 seconds normally, and the calculation takes 60 seconds to reach each party, this can indicate a third party.
The integrity of public keys must generally be assured in some manner, but need not be secret. Passwords and shared secret keys have the additional secrecy requirement. Public keys can be verified by a certificate authority whose public key is distributed through a secure channel. Public keys can also be verified by a web of trust that distributes public keys through a secure channel.
Quantum cryptography protocols, which use quantum communication and quantum communication to perform cryptographic tasks, can be used to thwart man-in-the-middle attacks. One method quantum cryptography employs is quantum key distribution (QKD), which establishes a shared key between two parties. If a third party tries to eavesdrop and learn these bits, the messages will be disturbed and the original two parties will notice. The key is then typically used for encrypted communication.
External Links:
Man-in-the-middle attack on Wikipedia
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