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Man-in-the-middle attack

nounid 3207·updated May 9, 2026
candidate

A form of active wiretapping attack in which the attacker intercepts and selectively modifies communicated data to masquerade as one or more of the entities involved in a communication association.

polysemousMWE

Classifications

Entity Type

Threat90%rule-basedr:entity.threat.attack.v1

Sensitivity

unclassified

Information Class

unclassified

Variants

acronym
MitM
plural
Man-in-the-middle attacks
possessive
Man-in-the-middle attack's
pluralpossessive
Man-in-the-middle attacks'

Framework definitions

ISACA Cybersecurity Glossary1 senseview framework →
§1
An attack strategy in which the attacker intercepts the communication stream between two parts of the victim system and then replaces the traffic between the two components with the intruder’s own, eventually assuming control of the communication
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) IT Examination Handbook Infobase, Glossary1 senseview framework →
§1
Places the attacker's computer in the communication line between the server and the client. The attacker's machine can monitor and change communications.
NISTIR 7298: Glossary of Key Information Security Terms, Revision 22 sensesview framework →
§1
An attack on the authentication protocol run in which the Attacker positions himself in between the Claimant and Verifier so that he can intercept and alter data traveling between them.
§2 · sense_2_pending_review
A form of active wiretapping attack in which the attacker intercepts and selectively modifies communicated data to masquerade as one or more of the entities involved in a communication association.
CNSSI-4009 (Glossary of Information Assurance Terms)1 senseview framework →
§1
A form of active wiretapping attack in which the attacker intercepts and selectively modifies communicated data to masquerade as one or more of the entities involved in a communication association.
NIST SP 800-631 senseview framework →
§1
An attack on the authentication protocol run in which the Attacker positions himself in between the Claimant and Verifier so that he can intercept and alter data traveling between them.

Outgoing relationships

No outgoing triples
This term is not the subject of any RDF-style relationship yet.

Incoming relationships

No incoming triples
No other term currently asserts a relationship to this one.