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passive attack

nounid 3506·updated May 9, 2026
candidate

An attack against an authentication protocol where the Attacker intercepts data traveling along the network between the Claimant and Verifier, but does not alter the data (i.e., eavesdropping).

polysemousMWE

Classifications

Entity Type

Threat92%llm-generatedllm:claude-haiku-4-5

Sensitivity

unclassified

Information Class

unclassified

Variants

plural
passive attacks
possessive
passive attack's
pluralpossessive
passive attacks'

Framework definitions

National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (NICCS) Cybersecurity Lexicon1 senseview framework →
§1
An actual assault perpetrated by an intentional threat source that attempts to learn or make use of information from a system, but does not attempt to alter the system, its resources, its data, or its operations.
NISTIR 7298: Glossary of Key Information Security Terms, Revision 22 sensesview framework →
§1
An attack against an authentication protocol where the Attacker intercepts data traveling along the network between the Claimant and Verifier, but does not alter the data (i.e., eavesdropping).
§2 · sense_2_pending_review
An attack that does not alter systems or data.
CNSSI-4009 (Glossary of Information Assurance Terms)1 senseview framework →
§1
An attack that does not alter systems or data.
NIST SP 800-631 senseview framework →
§1
An attack against an authentication protocol where the Attacker intercepts data traveling along the network between the Claimant and Verifier, but does not alter the data (i.e., eavesdropping).

Outgoing relationships

related

Incoming relationships

related