The festive season often sees executives working remotely, from airports, hotels, or cafés, connecting to public Wi-Fi to check emails or approve urgent transactions. This presents an ideal opportunity for cybercriminals to conduct Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks, intercepting and manipulating network traffic. These attacks can compromise confidential information, credentials and even financial transfers. As Australian executives embrace flexible work arrangements, protecting against interception and session hijacking is critical to maintaining corporate trust and data integrity.
A Man-in-the-Middle attack occurs when a cybercriminal positions themselves between a user and a trusted service, such as a corporate email server or VPN. This can be achieved by creating rogue Wi-Fi hotspots (e.g., ‘Free Airport Wi-Fi’) or compromising legitimate routers. Once connected, attackers can intercept traffic, capture credentials, and inject malicious payloads into data streams.
Some attackers use SSL-stripping techniques to downgrade encrypted HTTPS sessions to unencrypted HTTP, allowing them to read or modify data in transit. Others clone corporate login pages to capture usernames and passwords, sometimes deploying credential-stealing malware or keyloggers as follow-ups.
During the holidays, executives often approve payments or access sensitive reports while travelling. These transactions, when conducted over insecure or spoofed networks, create a golden opportunity for interception and account compromise.
While large-scale MitM attacks are less publicised than ransomware, they remain a persistent threat in Australia. The ACSC has issued repeated advisories urging businesses to enforce secure remote access protocols. In one case, a Sydney-based real-estate agent suffered reputational damage, as well as their client’s money, when a scammer impersonated their client and had their deposit transferred to the scammer account.
Similarly, a Melbourne small business owner reported a MitM incident in which attackers modified a Xero PDF invoice mid-transit, replacing banking details before the file reached them from a supplier, a sophisticated form of payment redirection.
The Essential Eight framework mitigates Man-in-the-Middle risks by securing endpoints, enforcing encryption, and protecting accounts even if data is intercepted:
Together, these measures safeguard both the communication channel and the endpoint device, critical when staff are working remotely or travelling.
By adopting these measures and maintaining strong Essential Eight maturity, organisations can ensure that their Christmas communications remain private, safe from cybercriminals hiding under the digital mistletoe.
