What is a Man-in-the-Middle Attack?
A Man-in-the-Middle Attack involves a hacker intercepting communications between you and an outside entity. This attack can occur via email, social media, WiFi eavesdropping, general online activity, or even phone communications. In such an attack, the hacker can impersonate one of the entities communicating, for instance pretending to be an account holder when transferring money through a bank, and redirecting funds to a private account. Or a hacker could simply intercept personal data a user is sharing with a website.
How to Recognize This Threat: As noted above, the threat is multi-tiered and attacks could occur in a variety of manors. It pays to be aware of your surroundings, whether it be double-checking that websites you interact with are not unsecured, looking out for dummy public WiFi networks, or watching for email phishing schemes.
How to Prevent This Threat: As Man-in-the-Middle attacks vary, it pays to protect against a variety of threats. Your users should be trained to look for signs of these different attacks, but when it comes to your network, a firewall with a security services subscription is the way to go.