Question

what style of attack is characterized by the act of intercepting the first message in a public key exchange, followed by the substitution of an original key by a bogus key?

Answer 1

The style of attack characterized by intercepting the first message in a public key exchange and substituting the original key with a bogus key is called a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack.

Step-by-step explanation:

The style of attack characterized by intercepting the first message in a public key exchange and substituting the original key with a bogus key is called a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack. In this attack, the attacker positions themselves between the communicating parties and can eavesdrop on their communication, modify the messages or even inject their own messages.

For example, in a public key exchange, such as the Diffie-Hellman key exchange, the attacker intercepts the initial message containing the public keys of the parties involved. The attacker then generates their own bogus key and sends it to both parties, making them believe they are communicating securely when in fact the attacker can decrypt and manipulate the messages.

MitM attacks can be mitigated by using techniques like certificate authorities to verify the authenticity of public keys and implementing secure communication protocols like Transport Layer Security (TLS) to encrypt the communication and prevent tampering.