Which type of attack involves intercepting communications over a network?

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The type of attack that involves intercepting communications over a network is a man-in-the-middle attack. In this scenario, the attacker secretly relays and possibly alters the communication between two parties who think they are directly communicating with each other. This can occur in various forms, such as intercepting emails, stealing session tokens, or even manipulating data being transmitted.

Man-in-the-middle attacks exploit vulnerabilities in network security to position the attacker in the communication stream. For example, an attacker could use techniques like ARP spoofing or session hijacking to achieve this. Ensuring proper encryption, like TLS (Transport Layer Security), and other security measures can help mitigate the risks associated with such attacks.

Other types of attacks listed do not specifically involve the interception of communications. Phishing attacks focus on tricking individuals into providing sensitive information by impersonating a legitimate entity. DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks disrupt services by overwhelming them with traffic rather than intercepting communications. Lastly, ransomware attacks refer to the malicious encryption of a victim's data for ransom, which also does not involve interception of communication.

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