Man-in-the-Middle Attack
An attack where a third party secretly intercepts and possibly alters communication between two parties who believe they're talking directly.
A man-in-the-middle attack↗ occurs when a third party secretly intercepts, and sometimes alters, communication between two parties who believe they are communicating directly with each other. This can happen on an unsecured public Wi-Fi network, through a compromised router, or via fraudulent website certificates.
Once positioned in the middle, an attacker can eavesdrop on sensitive data like login credentials and financial information, or actively inject malicious content into the conversation. Encrypted connections, indicated by HTTPS in a browser, and avoiding sensitive transactions on unsecured public Wi-Fi are key defenses against this attack.