Gaining control over an HTTP user session by obtaining the session IDs is called?

Gaining control over an HTTP user session by obtaining the session IDs is called?

• A. Network Level Hijacking
• B. Spoofing Attack
• C. Application Level Hijacking
• D. Session Hijacking

Answer: (C)

Gaining control over an HTTP user session by obtaining the session IDs is called session hijacking. This happens when an attacker steals a valid session token (the session ID) and uses it to impersonate the legitimate user in an active session, effectively taking over that user's authenticated state. In HTTP, these IDs are often stored in cookies, so techniques like cookie theft, XSS, or network interception can expose them and allow reuse of the session. This is more precise for the scenario than network-level hijacking, which refers to intercepting traffic at the network layer rather than leveraging a specific session token. Spoofing is a broader impersonation concept not limited to sessions, and application-level hijacking implies exploiting application logic rather than stealing a session token to hijack an active session. So the term that directly describes taking over an active session by using the session ID is session hijacking.

Gaining control over an HTTP user session by obtaining the session IDs is called session hijacking. This happens when an attacker steals a valid session token (the session ID) and uses it to impersonate the legitimate user in an active session, effectively taking over that user's authenticated state. In HTTP, these IDs are often stored in cookies, so techniques like cookie theft, XSS, or network interception can expose them and allow reuse of the session.

This is more precise for the scenario than network-level hijacking, which refers to intercepting traffic at the network layer rather than leveraging a specific session token. Spoofing is a broader impersonation concept not limited to sessions, and application-level hijacking implies exploiting application logic rather than stealing a session token to hijack an active session. So the term that directly describes taking over an active session by using the session ID is session hijacking.