Listening in on a conversation to disrupt confidentiality. A form of surveillance. In computers, it is a attack consisting of sniffing, similar to a wiretap, on a network connection.
Defense: Eavesdropping can be defeated through cryptography and/or by keeping one’s activities obscure. Alternatively, there is the cone of silence.
Related
- Authentication
- Encrypted Chat Clients / Encrypting Your Chat
- Internet Telephony
- Encrypting Your …
- Pretty Good Privacy
- Sniff
- Spyware
- TEMPEST
Specific attacks
Links
Employer eavesdropping:
- Law.com Firms Can Monitor Internet and E-Mail Activity
- It’s 2 a.m. Do you know where your workers are?
- eLondon: should you monitor employees’ Internet use?
- Electronic Monitoring of Employees by Employers
- Dutch employers can now monitor employees’ online activities
Government
TakeDown.NET -> “Eavesdropping”