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MENTAL MODEL · M2377

Man-in-the-Middle Attack, MITM

Man-in-the-Middle Attack, MITM
TechnicalHigh supportCybersecurity
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

An attacker secretly intercepts and possibly modifies communication between two parties. Both parties believe they are privately conversing with each other, but in reality they are both conversing with the attacker.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Channel review: In business negotiations or information transmission, if you feel the other party's response is strange, check whether there is a "middleman" (messenger/intermediary) filtering or tampering with the information. Try to establish a direct connection (end-to-end encryption).

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The attacker secretly inserts themselves between the communicating parties, intercepting (and possibly tampering with) information, making both ends mistakenly believe they are directly connected to each other. The mechanism is: if the communicating parties do not verify each other's identity and channel encryption, the middleman can impersonate either party to relay, achieving eavesdropping/tampering without detection.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

  • link
    zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E9%97%B4%E4%BA%BA%E6%94%BB%E5%87%BBZH · Explicit
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