## Understanding MITM Attacks - The Threat to Cryptocurrency Security

In the field of network security and cryptocurrency, a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack is characterized by the attacker inserting themselves between two communicating parties, creating a position to monitor, intercept, or alter the transmitted data. This mechanism works because both parties believe they are connecting directly, while in reality, the information is being handled by a malicious third party.

( How MITM Attacks Work

To carry out this type of attack, the attacker must be able to intercept all messages sent between the two parties and insert new messages or modify existing ones. In many cases, this is relatively easy to do — for example, through unencrypted WiFi, where the attacker can position themselves as a relay point in the information exchange.

More dangerously, successful attackers can redirect traffic to fake websites designed to look legitimate, or simply collect data before forwarding it to the destination. This covert nature makes detecting MITM attacks extremely difficult.

) Purpose and Consequences of MITM

Man-in-the-Middle attacks are often used to steal login credentials, private keys, and personal data, monitor victims' activities, or compromise/undermine the integrity of communication data.

In the context of cryptocurrency, this risk is especially severe because exposing private keys can lead to the loss of all digital assets.

### Prevention Measures Against MITM

Encryption is the primary tool to protect against MITM, but encryption alone is not enough. A comprehensive solution requires endpoint authentication — a mechanism adopted by most modern cryptographic protocols.

Standards like TLS allow for the authentication of one or both parties through mutually trusted certificates. This way, both parties can verify each other's identities, making impersonation of endpoints by attackers nearly impossible.

It should be noted that MITM attacks differ from interactive man-in-the-middle attacks ###gặp trung gian###, although both aim to breach communication security.