Skip to main content
  • 712 Accesses

Synonyms

Interception; Monitoring; Wiretapping

Related Concepts

Man-in-the-Middle

Definition

Eavesdropping is the surreptitious monitoring of communication.

Background

Eavesdropping has two underlying goals. Primarily, it seeks to monitor communication with high information fidelity. The intercepted communication should closely reflect the information that the sender is attempting to convey to the receiver. Additionally, eavesdropping should be a clandestine operation; neither the sender nor the receiver should be aware of the eavesdropper’s presence.

Eavesdropping can be classified into two techniques. In passive eavesdropping, the eavesdropper monitors communication and does not interfere with the communication channel. Passive eavesdroppers are difficult to detect since their presence does not produce any observable effects. In contrast, active eavesdroppingtechniques permit the eavesdropper to both observe the communication medium as well as modify its contents. In particular, an...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 799.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 949.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Recommended Reading

  1. Bellovin SM (2000) Wiretapping the net. The Bridge 20(2):21–26

    Google Scholar 

  2. Blaze M, Bellovin SM (2000) Inside RISKS: Tapping on my network door. Commun ACM 43(10):136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Reed MG, Syverson PF, Goldschlag DM (1998) Anonymous connections and onion routing. IEEE J Sel Areas Commun 16(4):482–494

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this entry

Cite this entry

Sherr, M. (2011). Eavesdropping. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A., Jajodia, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_109

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics