What You Need For The Best Defense Against Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) Attacks
Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks involve the interception of communication between two or more digital systems. Because of this, they are both difficult to detect and to resolve. The best solution, therefore, is defense. Unfortunately, that too has its’ challenges due to a varied range of attacks and the requirement of multiple solutions to defend against a single attack. However, once you understand how to protect against man-in-the-middle attacks, the defense becomes feasible and manageable. Lucky for you, this article reviews everything one might need in the protection against MITM attacks.
Knowledge and Information
Knowledge on cyber-attacks and data leaks in general is your best defense against MITM attacks. Learn about the types of MITM attacks and their execution as well as possible solutions and you’ll find that it doesn’t take a lot to keep your data secure. Simple tools such as an encrypting VPN or Tor give you ample protection under most circumstances, but it’s worth brushing up your knowledge every once in a while, as attackers are always evolving. Read up on the latest journals and articles to regularly to learn about MITM trends and update your defense strategies.
Cybersecurity Measures
Ultimately, the most definitive defense against cyber attacks is through the use of cybersecurity tools. Since you can’t rely on a single security tool to fix the entire problem, you will need to rely on multiple tools simultaneously.
VPN and Tor
These are cybersecurity tools that provide much-needed privacy, anonymity and network security. Essentially, they prevent the interception of communication by hiding your network (communication route) and encrypting your network traffic. Used independently, the VPN provides better protection than Tor. This is because it is a more specialized network security tool with heavy encryption, IP address concealment, and other essential features. However, even then, it still lacks when it comes to anonymity since the IP address of the VPN server is still identifiable. This is one of the reasons to use VPN over Tor, which combines the use of both tools simultaneously in a way that provides maximum security with minimal risk. In so doing, the tools boost their strengths and cover the weaknesses to offer more compact protection against not only MITM attacks but various types of cyber attacks.
Antivirus
Viruses are a menace used to initiate a MITM attack or to bide time and create an opportunity to attack. As times have changed, it is near impossible to notice a malware infection in your device. Therefore, you need specialized cyber tools to protect against malware infections. Additionally, you need to purge any existing malware in your devices, which is where an antivirus come in. Since most MITM attacks occur online, your choice of antivirus should include a network security function. Your anti-virus should have at least a firewall feature to protect against such attacks.
The Bottom Line
While effective, the measures highlighted above don’t cover everything. This is why you need a more specialized defense against MITM attacks. For that to happen, you need to understand both the nature of attacks and the weaknesses in your system. Nevertheless, the measures indicated in this article should provide you with enough protection and time to put other measures into place.
Tags: Man in the Middle, MITM, TOR, VPN
