Which type of attack intercepts communications between two parties to eavesdrop, modify, or impersonate?

Which type of attack intercepts communications between two parties to eavesdrop, modify, or impersonate?

• A. DoS attacks
• B. Phishing
• C. Brute force
• D. MITM attacks

Answer: (D)

The situation being tested is when an attacker positions themselves between two parties and can read, alter, or impersonate the communications passing between them. This is the essence of a Man-in-the-Middle attack. By inserting themselves into the communication path—such as through ARP spoofing on a local network, DNS poisoning, or a rogue Wi‑Fi access point—the attacker can eavesdrop on sensitive data, modify messages in transit, or pretend to be one of the parties to the other. Denial-of-service attacks, in contrast, aim to disrupt availability rather than intercept content. Phishing tricks users into giving up credentials, but it doesn’t inherently place the attacker between two communicating endpoints. Brute force is about guessing passwords to gain access, not about intercepting or altering ongoing traffic. To defend, rely on encrypted end-to-end channels, proper certificate validation, VPNs, and network monitoring to detect unusual routing or bridging between hosts.

The situation being tested is when an attacker positions themselves between two parties and can read, alter, or impersonate the communications passing between them. This is the essence of a Man-in-the-Middle attack. By inserting themselves into the communication path—such as through ARP spoofing on a local network, DNS poisoning, or a rogue Wi‑Fi access point—the attacker can eavesdrop on sensitive data, modify messages in transit, or pretend to be one of the parties to the other. Denial-of-service attacks, in contrast, aim to disrupt availability rather than intercept content. Phishing tricks users into giving up credentials, but it doesn’t inherently place the attacker between two communicating endpoints. Brute force is about guessing passwords to gain access, not about intercepting or altering ongoing traffic. To defend, rely on encrypted end-to-end channels, proper certificate validation, VPNs, and network monitoring to detect unusual routing or bridging between hosts.