A Free Educational Resource Created by Carnegie Mellon University to Empower You to Secure Your Part of Cyberspace

Eavesdropping

Method of secretly listening in on a conversation

Eavesdropping is a method of secretly listening in on an electronic conversation between two people. By eavesdropping, attackers may be able to capture a password or other confidential information.

There are several eavesdropping techniques. Some of these include:

  • Listening to a telephone conversation between two people sharing confidential information.
  • Wiretapping, which is linking into the physical communication lines connecting the two parties. This is done with special devices that can intercept the electromagnetic emission from the wires and figure out what information is being sent.
  • A man-in-the-middle attack, which is when the attacker positions himself so that all communication between two people first passes through him.

Protective Measures

Practices

  • Encryption: Use encryption mechanisms like Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)  to encrypt your communications so that eavesdroppers won’t be able to read them if they are intercepted.

References

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