Man-in-the-middle attacks, a type of cybersecurity threat where a malicious actor intercepts communication between two entities, were mentioned much more when Wi-Fi security was not as robust as it is today. However, these types of attacks are still common. They have increased in the age of digital connectivity and remote work, forcing companies to develop strategies to mitigate them.

Current Man-In-The-Middle Threats

While the face of these types of attacks has changed, hackers are still attempting them against organizations that hold a lot of user data. This data has become a valuable commodity that grants anyone with access to it power over its owners.
These attacks now leverage bogus landing pages to collect crucial credentials, including login and two-factor authentication credentials. Additionally, attackers are using other methods, including phishing emails, business email compromise techniques and SMS to target organizations and people with high-level data access credentials.

Putting Businesses at Risk

Several factors can put businesses at a higher risk of man-in-the-middle attacks and lead to significant damages. Let’s examine them below.

Cloud Misconfiguration
Cloud misconfigurations occur when someone makes a mistake setting up a server, leading to poor reliability, performance and security. These mistakes can significantly increase the risk of main-in-the-middle attacks.
A common way this happens is through misconfigured security settings. Cloud resources should always ensure all data in transit or at rest is encrypted. Attackers can intercept communications between resources or servers to read and harvest this data if encryption is somehow compromised or disabled due to a server misconfiguration.

Proper authentication practices and protocols ensure that only authorized persons can access specific networks and data. However, insecure authentication or improperly configured security controls can let unauthorized users access specific resources. They can also allow these actors to position themselves for a man-in-the-middle attack.

Compromised Cloud Storage
People tend to trust data they download from cloud instances they believe to be secure. However, attackers can and have been able to exploit misconfigured storage buckets to inject malicious code into stored files.

Once they do this, they wait for an unsuspecting victim to download the file. What follows is an infection or compromise that lets an attacker carry out a man-in-the-middle attack or cause other damage, including installing ransomware on the organization’s network.

Such attacks resemble phishing attacks. They are typical in organizations that separate their storage from their internet networks but still require people to occasionally upload files to and download files from cloud storage buckets.

Poor Identity Management Practices
Proper identity management governs who and what has access to specific cloud resources. Losing control of these crucial cybersecurity measures could mean anyone with the right credentials can access your resources without further authentication checks.

Crucially, everyone and every application that can access your resources should only be allowed to access specific resources. Doing this ensures a malicious actor cannot access other parts of the network or additional data if they compromise an identity.

Employees
It is widely known in the cybersecurity world that users are typically the weakest link in cybersecurity and are responsible for different types of attacks, including man-in-the-middle attacks. Many of these attacks happen because of employee actions, so the best way to stop them is to educate employees on security best practices.

Organizations should also host regular training sessions to inform all employees of the latest threats and how to protect themselves and the organization.

Man-in-the-middle attacks are still a serious threat for all kinds of businesses, but more so for those storing vast amounts of crucial user data. Organizations can better protect themselves from the losses and damages associated with these attacks, by understanding how and why they happen.