Exposing Flaws in Web Security with Emphasis on Interception Assaults and Session Breach Exploits

In today’s digital age, the widespread use of the Internet has made data highly susceptible to various cyberattacks due to its inherently open-access nature. Among the most concerning threats to data privacy are web-based attacks. This Systematic Literature Review (SLR) focuses specifically on two such attacks: Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) and session hijacking. It analyzes approximately 30 research studies published between 2016 and 2023, selected through a structured and rigorous review process. The SLR is guided by three main research questions. The first question explores general trends in research on MITM and session hijacking attacks. Findings indicate a peak of 7 publications in 2018, which declined to 4 by 2021. It was also observed that 73% of these studies were presented at conferences, with India emerging as the leading contributor in this research area. Additionally, IEEE was identified as the most prominent publisher. The second research question looks at the ways that session hijacking and MITM take advantage of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack. Findings indicate that while session hijacking mainly impacts the application and network layers, MITM attacks can target any layer of the stack.