ARPSpoofingPoisoning

ARPSpoofingPoisoning refers to a type of man-in-the-middle attack that exploits vulnerabilities in the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP). ARP is a network protocol used to map IP addresses to physical MAC addresses within a local area network (LAN). In an ARP spoofing attack, an attacker sends forged ARP messages onto a LAN. These messages associate the attacker's MAC address with the IP address of a legitimate network device, such as a gateway or another host.

Once the ARP cache on the target device is updated with the forged information, network traffic intended for that IP address is redirected to the attacker's machine. This allows the attacker to intercept, modify, or drop the data packets. The "poisoning" aspect refers to the act of corrupting the ARP cache entries of other devices on the network. This can be done passively by observing network traffic or actively by sending unsolicited ARP replies.

The primary goal of ARP spoofing and poisoning is to gain unauthorized access to network traffic, which can be used for various malicious purposes, including eavesdropping, session hijacking, or injecting malicious code into transmitted data. Defenses against ARP spoofing include using static ARP entries, employing intrusion detection systems that monitor ARP traffic for anomalies, and implementing network segmentation to limit the scope of potential attacks.