How to Protect Against Man-in-the-Middle Attacks: MITM in Cryptocurrency Security

What is a MITM Attack?

A “Man-in-the-Middle” attack means that an attacker secretly positions themselves as an intermediary in the communication between two parties. Both participants in the exchange believe they are communicating directly with each other, when in fact a third party intercepts, records, or alters all transmitted data. This is one of the most common types of cyberattacks in the cryptocurrency sphere.

How does a MITM attack work?

The attacker must have the technical ability to intercept the communication channel. For example, gaining access to an unsecured Wi-Fi network allows the attacker to easily position themselves as a middleman between your computer and the server. After intercepting the traffic, they can:

• Steal credentials — intercept passwords or private keys
• Phishing sites — redirect you to a fake legitimate service and collect personal information
• Spying — covertly monitor the victim’s activity
• Data manipulation — alter the transmitted information

The difficulty in detecting such attacks lies in the fact that the attacker can pass all traffic to the destination after recording it, remaining invisible.

How to protect against MITM?

Mutual authentication — the primary protection mechanism. Cryptographic protocols like TLS use certificates trusted by both parties to ensure that each participant is who they claim to be. This makes it impossible for an attacker to effectively masquerade as a legitimate service.

Encryption also significantly complicates MITM attacks, making intercepted data unreadable to the attacker.

MITM versus “Man-in-the-Middle” meeting

Do not confuse a “Man-in-the-Middle” attack with a “meeting in the middle” attack — these are fundamentally different methods of compromise.