Attacks & Threats
Pharming
Definition
An attack that silently redirects users from a legitimate site to a malicious one by tampering with DNS, hosts files, or local routing — without requiring the victim to click a link.
Examples
- Malware modifies the Windows hosts file so that bank.example.com resolves to an attacker server with a look-alike login page.
- Compromised home router replaces the ISP's DNS with rogue resolvers that hijack banking traffic for the entire household.
Related terms
DNS Spoofing
An attack that injects falsified DNS responses to redirect victims from a legitimate domain to an attacker-controlled IP address.
DNS Cache Poisoning
An attack that inserts forged records into a DNS resolver's cache so subsequent queries return attacker-chosen addresses until the TTL expires.
DNS Hijacking
An attack that redirects DNS resolution to attacker-controlled answers by modifying client settings, router configurations, resolver responses, or authoritative DNS records.
Phishing
A social-engineering attack in which an attacker impersonates a trusted party to trick a victim into revealing credentials, transferring money, or running malware.
Man-in-the-Middle Attack
An attack in which an adversary secretly relays or alters communications between two parties who believe they are talking directly to each other.
DNSSEC
A set of DNS extensions that cryptographically sign zone data so resolvers can verify the authenticity and integrity of DNS responses.