Man-in-the-browser

Man-in-the-browser (MITB, MitB, MIB, MiB), a form of Internet threat related to man-in-the-middle (MITM), is a proxy Trojan horse[1] that infects a web browser by taking advantage of vulnerabilities in browser security to modify web pages, modify transaction content or insert additional transactions, all in a covert fashion invisible to both the user and host web application. A MitB attack will be successful irrespective of whether security mechanisms such as SSL/PKI and/or two- or three-factor authentication solutions are in place. A MitB attack may be countered by using out-of-band transaction verification, although SMS verification can be defeated by man-in-the-mobile (MitMo) malware infection on the mobile phone. Trojans may be detected and removed by antivirus software,[2] but a 2011 report concluded that additional measures on top of antivirus software were needed.[3][needs update]

A related, simpler attack is the boy-in-the-browser (BitB, BITB).

The majority of financial service professionals in a 2014 survey considered MitB to be the greatest threat to online banking.[4]

  1. ^ Bar-Yosef, Noa (2010-12-30). "The Evolution of Proxy Trojans". Retrieved 2012-02-03.
  2. ^ F-Secure (2007-02-11). "Threat Description: Trojan-Spy:W32/Nuklus.A". Retrieved 2012-02-03.
  3. ^ Quarri Technologies, Inc (2011). "Web Browsers: Your Weak Link in Achieving PCI Compliance" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  4. ^ Fernandes, Diogo A. B.; Soares, Liliana F. B.; Gomes, João V.; Freire, Mário M.; Inácio, Pedro R. M. (2014-04-01). "Security issues in cloud environments: a survey". International Journal of Information Security. 13 (2): 113–170. doi:10.1007/s10207-013-0208-7. ISSN 1615-5270. S2CID 3330144.