What type of attack involves intercepting communications between two parties?

The attack type that involves intercepting communications between two parties is a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack. In a MITM attack, the attacker secretly relays and possibly alters the communication between the parties who believe they are directly communicating with each other. This type of attack can allow the attacker to eavesdrop on the conversation, steal data, or inject malicious content into the communication stream.

MITM attacks can occur in various forms, such as session hijacking, where an attacker takes control of a user’s session after they have authenticated themselves, or through techniques like packet sniffing, where data packets being transmitted over a network are intercepted. The critical aspect of a MITM attack is the deceitful positioning of the attacker within the communication process, making it appear as if two parties are securely communicating with each other when, in fact, the attacker is in control of that communication.

In contrast, other attack types like denial of service focus on overwhelming a system to make it unavailable, brute force attacks involve guessing passwords or encryption keys, and SQL injection targets databases to manipulate or retrieve sensitive data. Each of these attacks employs different techniques and goals, distinct from the interception of real-time communications characteristic of MITM attacks.