Eavesdropping attack
Eavesdropping attacks occur through the interception of network traffic. By eavesdropping, an attacker can obtain passwords, credit card numbers, and other confidential information that a user might be sending over the network. Eavesdropping can be passive or active Passive eavesdropping — A hacker detects the information by listening to the message transmission in the network. Active eavesdropping — A hacker actively grabs the information by disguising himself as a friendly unit and by sending queries to transmitters. This is called probing, scanning, or tampering. Detecting passive eavesdropping attacks is often more important than spotting active ones since active attacks require the attacker to gain knowledge of the friendly units by conducting passive eavesdropping before. Data encryption is the best countermeasure for eavesdropping. An eavesdropping attack starts with a piece of malware that allows attackers to plant the eavesdropping software or the packet sniffer...