the.com/man in the middle
the eavesdropper who becomes your translator without ever raising a hand.
means an attack where someone secretly intercepts and relays communication between two parties who think they're talking directly to each other.
from cryptography and spycraft term from the 20th century, formalized in computer security once networks let strangers sit invisibly between you and your bank.
classic examplefake wifi hotspot reading all your traffic
defenseencryption plus authentication, not encryption alone
also calledperson-in-the-middle, more gender-neutral term now
predates computerswiretapping is the analog original