Man-in-the-Browser Attack

Cyber security in today’s world is one of the biggest necessities of all time. It is important to safeguard the data that is present on the web. With the increasing demand for the internet and the services related to the internet, cyber crimes have become all the more common. 

It thus becomes important to protect the data and privacy of individuals, so that people using the internet feel safe while using the internet and related services. Crimes involving the internet also called cyber crimes have become all the more prevalent in modern times.

There are different types of cyber-attacks that are used by hackers to breach the privacy of individuals and harm/ steal their protected confidential data. One such cyber crime we will discuss in this article is the very risky ‘Man in the Browser Attack’.

Man in the Browser Attack:

• Man in the browser is a very dangerous cyber attack. Often it is regarded as another form of ‘Man in the Middle attack.
• Similar to the ‘Man in the middle Attack’ it involves eavesdropping taking place between two trusted sources. Here, eavesdropping is carried through a web browser. 
• The security vulnerabilities of the web browser thus are at risk as they are the target of attackers for data manipulation and stealing of confidential information. 
• Man in the Browser Attack is primarily opted by attackers for causing financial harm to users by making money frauds from the user bank account without the user knowing that he is becoming a victim of the Man in the Browser Attack.

How to Perform Man in the Browser Attack: 

• ‘Man in the Browser Attack’ is a form of a cyber attack involving a Trojan Horse that is mostly done for internet financial frauds or say transactions that are done using the internet.  
• A Trojan Horse attacks and manipulates the security calls involving banking transactions and financial frauds.
• Trojan Horse involved in the ‘Man in the Browser Attack’ are SpyEye, Zeus, and Clampi among others. 
• The Trojan horse can enter the system through dynamic load library, API, browser extensions, ajax worms, etc.
• Man in the browser attack is extremely risky as the mechanism of Man in the browser attack involves the Trojan Horse which attacks the internet transaction but still displays a successful transaction to the user. This makes it difficult for the user to know that he is been attacked.

Prevention from Man in the Browser Attack:

The different ways of preventing ‘Man in the browser attack’ are listed below: 

• The best way to prevent a ‘Man in the browser attack’ involves making use of the ‘Out of Band (OOB) Transaction verification’ mechanism. The ‘Out of Band (OOB) mechanism involves verifying the transactions by sending verification codes on mobile devices to authenticate the transaction.
• Refrain from downloading pirated software.
• Never click on unknown links received in the email.
• Make sure to have an updated version of anti-virus installed in your computer systems.
• Be vigilant to check the common Trojan locations. Trojan mostly resides in C:/Program File or C:/Windows/Temp.
• Always buy verified software for your computer system and keep them updated according to market needs.