What “Man-in-the-Middle” Means (And Why HTTPS Helps)
A man-in-the-middle attack intercepts traffic between a user and a website. HTTPS makes interception much harder.
A “man-in-the-middle” attack happens when an attacker positions themselves between a visitor and a website.
The goal is to intercept or modify the communication.
How it can happen
This can happen on:
- public Wi-Fi
- compromised routers
- malicious hotspots
What attackers try to do
Attackers may try to:
- read usernames and passwords
- steal session tokens
- inject malicious scripts
- change what the user sees
A session token is a special value that tells the server “this user is logged in.” If someone steals it, they may impersonate the user.
Why HTTPS helps
HTTPS encrypts the communication.
If someone intercepts encrypted traffic, it is unreadable.
That doesn’t fix every security problem, but it blocks one of the most common and dangerous categories of interception attacks.
Where SafeSiteScan fits
SafeSiteScan checks that HTTPS is working properly and that SSL certificates are valid.
We also check for missing security headers that add extra protection.
HTTPS is the baseline. Strong security builds on top of it.