What is SSL Stripping? How to Prevent SSL Stripping Attacks?
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<article id="post-4038" class="post-4038 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-cyber-attack category-ssl-certificate tag-ssl-stripping tag-ssl-stripping-attacks entry" morss_own_score="9.4978354978355" morss_score="17.418685077150087"> <p><span><a href="https://certera.com/blog/">Home</a> » <span>What is SSL Stripping? How to Prevent SSL Stripping Attacks?</span></span></p> <h1>What is SSL Stripping? How to Prevent SSL Stripping Attacks?</h1> <div><img decoding="async" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2012%2012'%3E%3C/svg%3E" title="1 Star"><img decoding="async" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2012%2012'%3E%3C/svg%3E" title="2 Stars"><img decoding="async" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2012%2012'%3E%3C/svg%3E" title="3 Stars"><img decoding="async" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2012%2012'%3E%3C/svg%3E" title="4 Stars"><img decoding="async" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2012%2012'%3E%3C/svg%3E" title="5 Stars"><strong>1</strong> votes, average: <strong>5.00</strong> out of 5)</div> <p><img decoding="async" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2016%2016'%3E%3C/svg%3E"> </p><div class="code-block code-block-13" style="margin: 8px 0; clear: both;"> <style> .ai-rotate {position: relative;} .ai-rotate-hidden {visibility: hidden;} .ai-rotate-hidden-2 {position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} .ai-list-data, .ai-ip-data, .ai-filter-check, .ai-fallback, .ai-list-block, .ai-list-block-ip, .ai-list-block-filter {visibility: hidden; position: absolute; width: 50%; height: 1px; top: -1000px; z-index: -9999; margin: 0px!important;} .ai-list-data, .ai-ip-data, .ai-filter-check, .ai-fallback {min-width: 1px;} </style> <div class="ai-rotate ai-unprocessed ai-timed-rotation ai-13-1" data-info="WyIxMy0xIiwxXQ==" style="position: relative;"> <div class="ai-rotate-option" style="visibility: hidden;" data-index="1" data-name="U2hvcnQ=" data-time="MTA="> <div class="custom-ad"> <div style="margin: auto; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.techstrongevents.com/cruisecon-virtual-west-2025/home?ref=in-article-ad-2&utm_source=sb&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=in-article-ad-2" target="_blank"><img src="https://securityboulevard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Banner-770x330-social-1.png" alt="Cruise Con 2025"></a></div> <div class="clear-custom-ad"></div> </div></div> </div> </div> <figure> <img decoding="async" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20960%20620'%3E%3C/svg%3E"></figure> <div class="entry-content" morss_own_score="5.75079006772009" morss_score="265.5346922527475"> <h2>WHAT IS SSL STRIPPING?</h2> <p>SSL stripping is an attack in which an unauthorized party downgrades the connection security from HTTPS to HTTP.</p> <p>It takes advantage of weak spots in the process of migrating people from HTTP and HTTPS to HTTPs, allowing the attackers to intercept and alter the information exchanged between a user and a web server.</p> <p>In an SSL stripping attack, the attacker normally employs <a href="https://certera.com/blog/man-in-the-middle-mitm-attacks-how-to-detect-and-prevent-it/">man in middle attack</a> to intercede in the communication.</p> <p>It occurs when an attacker aims to intercept a user’s request to access a secure site; the attacker sends the request to the server using HTTPS while showing the user an HTTP connection only.</p> <p>Therefore, the user’s data, including personal details, login information, and even financial information when included, is sent to the site in plaintext and can be intercepted by the attacker.</p> <p>This attack affects the confidentiality and integrity of the data, and as such, SSL stripping is an actual threat to security and privacy over the internet.</p> <p>SSL stripping attacks, <strong>also known as SSL downgrade attacks</strong>, are a category of man-in-the-middle (MITM) cyber attacks that are aimed at disrupting confidentiality mechanisms of secure web connections.</p> <p>The motive of such assaults is to render encrypted communication, known as an HTTPS connection, as an ordinary HTTP connection, which makes it easy for the attacker to eavesdrop on data in transit between the user and the server.</p> <p>Normally, this attack involves an attacker who intercepts a user’s request to connect to a secure HTTPS site, sends the request to the site through HTTPS, but returns an HTTP version to the user.</p> <p>This trick leads the user to use an HTTP connection without their knowledge, using their inputs, such as login details and other personal information, in plain text. In this case, the attacker is able to intercept and may even manipulate this information.</p> <p>SSL Strip takes advantage of spots that exist between the use of HTTP and the adoption of HTTPS, and the ignorance of the user to their connection security.</p> <h2>How Does SSL Stripping Work?</h2> <p>SSL stripping is an attack wherein the encryption connection is downgraded to a normal connection from an HTTPS connection, and the user is unaware of the change.</p> <p>In a typical case, an attacker acts as a man-in-the-middle to carry out the attack by being able to observe the traffic between a user and the Web server. This can be achieved through techniques such as WIP mimicking or ARP hijacking.</p> <p>This is the current connection when a user first attempts a connection to a website; the request is done in HTTP.</p> <p>The attacker captures this request, and instead of passing on the server’s redirection to the use of the <a href="https://certera.com/blog/what-is-https-why-its-important-for-website-and-seo/">HTTPS protocol</a>, they manipulate the response to keep the connection on HTTP.</p> <p>Therefore, the attacker sets up a handler where the attacker has a secure connection with the web server while having an insecure connection with the user.</p> <p>This way, the attacker can easily intercept and control all the information entered by the user in plain form, such as passwords, name, surname, etc.</p> <p>The users may have no idea that such an attack is happening because they don’t necessarily see the ‘https’ in the web address, or the locked padlock icon in the browser.</p> <h2>Types of SSL Stripping</h2> <h3>Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attack</h3> <p>In a <a href="https://certera.com/blog/man-in-the-middle-mitm-attacks-how-to-detect-and-prevent-it/">Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack</a>, the attacker is capable of interrupting the communication session of the user and the server by impersonating as the authentic server.</p> <p>This type of attack can be devastating since the attacker is able to remove the encryption from the connection and force the connection to use HTTP rather than HTTPS.</p> <p>Hence, data transmission is compromised, and the attacker can get hold of sensitive data, including login details, personal details, and financial details of the user, without their consent.</p> <p>Man in the middle attacks work by being able to intercept data exchanges that are supposed to take place between the user and the real server.</p> <h3>Fake Access Points</h3> <p>Rogue access points are when an attacker deploys a fake wireless access point at public venues, including cafés, airports, or libraries. As it is, people get connected to these access points with the intent of thinking that they are real.</p> <p>Once connected, the attacker becomes an intermediary between the user and the server, eavesdropping on the communications and decrypting HTTPS to HTTP. This allows the attackers to intercept and intercept any data that is transmitted over the network.</p> <p>This entails capturing passwords and credit card numbers, among others. Rogue access points are effective because individuals trust the public Wi-Fi networks, and therefore, such channels are easy to use for an attacker to perform SSL stripping.</p> <h3>DNS Spoofing</h3> <p><a href="https://certera.com/blog/what-is-dns-poisoning-or-dns-spoofing/">DNS spoofing</a> is a process that manipulates the DNS cache and reroutes the request of a user from the appropriate authoritative server to a fake server.</p> <p>The user attempts to access a legitimate HTTPS website, but instead is rerouted to a site operated by the attacker using an insecure HTTP connection. This makes it possible for the attacker to cancel the HTTPS encryption and capture data.</p> <p>DNS spoofing is a form of attack that is considered to be very dangerous because it attacks the system of DNS, and this means that the user will hardly notice that they have been taken to a fake website.</p> <h3>ARP Spoofing</h3> <p>It is a type of attack in which the attackers forward fake Address Resolution Protocol messages within a local network.</p> <p>To perform this task, hackers decode the MAC address and associate it with the IP of a genuine server or another user on the network, and reroute the traffic to their device.</p> <p>As soon as the connection is compromised, it is downgraded from <a href="https://certera.com/blog/port-80-http-vs-port-443-https-everything-to-know-about/">‘https’ (secure) to ‘http’ (insecure)</a>. This enables them to change or supervise the sort of data being transmitted.</p> <p> It is ideal in the local network environment, where the attacker can inject the fake ARP with ease and efficiency.</p> <h3>Proxy Servers</h3> <p>Some attacks involve code that has been inserted into the lists of proxy servers; such code serves to change every web traffic stream.</p> <p>These proxies work in a way that when users set their browsers to use the proxies, the proxy removes the HTTPS encryption, thus making the traffic flow under HTTP.</p> <p>This causes the attackers to be able to monitor and capture data the moment that it is being transmitted.</p> <p>Hackers benefit from the fact that people rely on proxies to control web traffic and improve performance by installing a malicious proxy.</p> <p>By using the proxy, the attacker has full control over the traffic flow and can demoralize the encrypted flow without even alerting the user, thus facilitating and easy to steal his/her information.</p> <h2>Examples of SSL Stripping Attacks</h2> <p>Suppose you sit in a café somewhere reading and connected to the public Wi-Fi network. An attacker also gets to the same network positions to act as a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM).</p> <p>When you enter the URL and attempt to sign in to your bank’s website, the attacker is capable of intercepting this request. Hackers remove the <a href="https://certera.com/blog/what-is-https-why-its-important-for-website-and-seo/">HTTPS security layer</a> and redirect users to a similar website with an HTTP address.</p> <p>You head in, oblivious of the change, and feed in your login details, making it easy for the attacker to harvest the information in plain text. This makes them able to have a sneak peek into your bank account with the intention of embezzling your money.</p> <p>While in a hotel, you access what seems to be the hotel’s free Wi-Fi. This has allowed an attacker to establish a fake access point appearing to be from the hotel network name.</p> <p>Once the network has been compromised, the attacker controls all the internet traffic that flows through their machine. Whenever you go to the site of your email service provider, the attacker simply removes the HTTPS, which leads to an HTTP mode.</p> <p>Once you input your email credentials, the attacker then records and promptly gains access to your personal and sensitive emails.</p> <p>The situational scenario in the corporate environment reveals that an attacker has breached the network and then proceeds to DNS spoofing.</p> <p>Attackers tamper with the DNS cache to ensure anyone attempting to access the organization’s secure internal website over HTTPS is instead taken to a malicious HTTP version.</p> <p>Employees, figuring that they are authenticating themselves on a legitimate site, input their credentials and the attacker records them.</p> <p>This enables the attacker to get unauthorized access to important company data and, in the process, bring operations to stand standstill or even steal ideas.</p> <p>A typical example of the implementation of a man-in-the-middle attack in a shared office space is where an attacker executes an ARP spoofing attack and maps their MAC address to that of the default gateway IP address of the network.</p> <p>This means that all traffic coming from other users in the network is being channeled through the particular attacker’s device. An example is when a user attempts to contact an e-commerce website in an effort to make a purchase.</p> <p>The attacker hijacks the stream of data and removes the encryption created by HTTPS to obtain the credit card information of the user and proceeds to siphon their cash.</p> <p>A university increases its chance of being ranked high when its students are advised to use a Proxy Server for Internet connection. A student links to an attacker’s website with a fake proxy server, and the student defaults to using this proxy.</p> <p>Whenever the student accesses secure sites, the proxy removes the HTTPS, and thus the traffic is converted to HTTP.</p> <p>Some of the personal info that is intercepted includes: login details, academic transcripts, and personal messages that users trusted the proxy server with.</p> <h2>How to Detect SSL Stripping?</h2> <p>It may be difficult to detect SSL stripping attacks because it is a form of man-in-the-middle attack, which seeks to undermine HTTPS connections by replacing them with HTTP.</p> <p>However, there are several techniques that can be used in the detection of such an attack. One of the approaches includes trying to detect network traffic for indications of SSL stripping activity.</p> <p>This can be done using network monitoring tools or Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) that analyze packet headers and alert the administrator whenever they sense that connections being made over HTTPS are being downgraded to HTTP.</p> <p>Another approach is to monitor how the browser functions and search for signs that HTTPS connections are being intercepted.</p> <p>For instance, most browsers will employ a padlock symbol within the address bar to signify an SSL connection.</p> <p>But if this icon becomes missing, or a warning message overlays it, this is a clear indication of SSL stripping. Furthermore, browsers can also provide notifications or pop-ups when trying to navigate to a site over HTTP that should use HTTPS.</p> <h2>How to Prevent SSL Stripping Attacks?</h2> <h3>Add HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS)</h3> <p><a href="https://certera.com/blog/hsts-explained-detailed-guide-on-http-strict-transport-security/">HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS)</a> is perhaps one of the most important WSP mechanisms that works for protecting the web from SSL stripping attacks.</p> <p>Through enforced connections, HSTS makes browsers use only secure connections by not allowing any other connections to a website apart from HTTPS connections.</p> <p>If enabled, attempts to navigate back to an HTTP website will be met with restrictions of the browser. This is usually attained by enabling the HSTS header in the server response.</p> <p><em><strong>Strict-Transport-Security: </strong>max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains</em></p> <h3>Use Secure Cookies</h3> <p>Make sure that each cookie established should have the “Secure” and “HttpOnly” attributes maintained. The “Secure” attribute prevents the cookie from being sent in the HTTP connection, but is also limited to sending using the HTTPS connection; the “HttpOnly” attribute does not allow the client script to access the cookie.</p> <p><em><strong>Set-Cookie:</strong> sessionId=abc123; Secure; HttpOnly</em></p> <h3>Force HTTPS on Server-Side</h3> <p>Make sure that the web server is set up so that any and all HTTP connections get redirected to HTTPS. This prevents users from entering a URL with HTTP, only to be forwarded to a page that converts the URL to HTTPS. Apache, Nginx and other web servers allow for wide and quite obvious configurations to enforce this.</p> <p><strong>For Apache:</strong></p> <pre><code><em><VirtualHost *:80></em><em> ServerName www.example.com</em><em> Redirect permanent / https://www.example.com/</em><em></VirtualHost></em></code></pre> <p><strong>For Nginx:</strong></p> <pre><code><em morss_own_score="6.0" morss_score="14.0">server {</em><em> listen 80;</em><em> server_name example.com www.example.com;</em><em> return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;</em><em>}</em></code></pre> <h3>Deploy Certificate Pinning</h3> <p>Through <a href="https://certera.com/blog/what-is-certificate-pinning-how-does-certificate-pinning-work/">Certificate Pinning</a>, it is possible to bind a particular certificate or a public key to a particular server to avoid man-in-the-middle attacks by using forged certificates.</p> <p>This can be used in programs where it is wanted that the programs only take the certificates that are generated from a <a href="https://certera.com/ssl">trusted CA or Certificate Authorities</a>.</p> <h3>Use Browser Security Extensions</h3> <p>Users must be encouraged to install security-related browser add-ons, including HTTPS Everywhere.</p> <p>These extensions enhance the ability of requests to be rewritten for HTTPS when the server supports this feature, thereby addressing the vulnerability of SSL stripping.</p> <h2>Conclusion</h2> <p>An effective way for protection against SSL stripping is to integrate <a href="https://certera.com/">Certera’s wide range of protection solutions</a>. When engaging with Certera, you get to harness the latest technologies and insights to deploy the proper countermeasures against cyber attacks.</p> </div> <p><img decoding="async" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20132%20132'%3E%3C/svg%3E"></p> <h2> Janki Mehta</h2> <p> Janki Mehta is a passionate Cyber-Security Enthusiast who keenly monitors the latest developments in the Web/Cyber Security industry. She puts her knowledge into practice and helps web users by arming them with the necessary security measures to stay safe in the digital world.</p> </article><h2>WHAT IS SSL STRIPPING?</h2><p>SSL stripping is an attack in which an unauthorized party downgrades the connection security from HTTPS to HTTP.</p><p>It takes advantage of weak spots in the process of migrating people from HTTP and HTTPS to HTTPs, allowing the attackers to intercept and alter the information exchanged between a user and a web server.</p><p>In an SSL stripping attack, the attacker normally employs <a href="https://certera.com/blog/man-in-the-middle-mitm-attacks-how-to-detect-and-prevent-it/">man in middle attack</a> to intercede in the communication.</p><p>It occurs when an attacker aims to intercept a user’s request to access a secure site; the attacker sends the request to the server using HTTPS while showing the user an HTTP connection only.</p><p>Therefore, the user’s data, including personal details, login information, and even financial information when included, is sent to the site in plaintext and can be intercepted by the attacker.</p><p>This attack affects the confidentiality and integrity of the data, and as such, SSL stripping is an actual threat to security and privacy over the internet.</p><p>SSL stripping attacks, <strong>also known as SSL downgrade attacks</strong>, are a category of man-in-the-middle (MITM) cyber attacks that are aimed at disrupting confidentiality mechanisms of secure web connections.</p><p>The motive of such assaults is to render encrypted communication, known as an HTTPS connection, as an ordinary HTTP connection, which makes it easy for the attacker to eavesdrop on data in transit between the user and the server.</p><p>Normally, this attack involves an attacker who intercepts a user’s request to connect to a secure HTTPS site, sends the request to the site through HTTPS, but returns an HTTP version to the user.</p><p>This trick leads the user to use an HTTP connection without their knowledge, using their inputs, such as login details and other personal information, in plain text. In this case, the attacker is able to intercept and may even manipulate this information.</p><p>SSL Strip takes advantage of spots that exist between the use of HTTP and the adoption of HTTPS, and the ignorance of the user to their connection security.</p><h2>How Does SSL Stripping Work?</h2><p>SSL stripping is an attack wherein the encryption connection is downgraded to a normal connection from an HTTPS connection, and the user is unaware of the change.</p><p>In a typical case, an attacker acts as a man-in-the-middle to carry out the attack by being able to observe the traffic between a user and the Web server. This can be achieved through techniques such as WIP mimicking or ARP hijacking.</p><p>This is the current connection when a user first attempts a connection to a website; the request is done in HTTP.</p><p>The attacker captures this request, and instead of passing on the server’s redirection to the use of the <a href="https://certera.com/blog/what-is-https-why-its-important-for-website-and-seo/">HTTPS protocol</a>, they manipulate the response to keep the connection on HTTP.</p><p>Therefore, the attacker sets up a handler where the attacker has a secure connection with the web server while having an insecure connection with the user.</p><p>This way, the attacker can easily intercept and control all the information entered by the user in plain form, such as passwords, name, surname, etc.</p><p>The users may have no idea that such an attack is happening because they don’t necessarily see the ‘https’ in the web address, or the locked padlock icon in the browser.</p><h2>Types of SSL Stripping</h2><h3>Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attack</h3><p>In a <a href="https://certera.com/blog/man-in-the-middle-mitm-attacks-how-to-detect-and-prevent-it/">Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack</a>, the attacker is capable of interrupting the communication session of the user and the server by impersonating as the authentic server.</p><p>This type of attack can be devastating since the attacker is able to remove the encryption from the connection and force the connection to use HTTP rather than HTTPS.</p><p>Hence, data transmission is compromised, and the attacker can get hold of sensitive data, including login details, personal details, and financial details of the user, without their consent.</p><p>Man in the middle attacks work by being able to intercept data exchanges that are supposed to take place between the user and the real server.</p><h3>Fake Access Points</h3><p>Rogue access points are when an attacker deploys a fake wireless access point at public venues, including cafés, airports, or libraries. As it is, people get connected to these access points with the intent of thinking that they are real.</p><p>Once connected, the attacker becomes an intermediary between the user and the server, eavesdropping on the communications and decrypting HTTPS to HTTP. This allows the attackers to intercept and intercept any data that is transmitted over the network.</p><p>This entails capturing passwords and credit card numbers, among others. Rogue access points are effective because individuals trust the public Wi-Fi networks, and therefore, such channels are easy to use for an attacker to perform SSL stripping.</p><h3>DNS Spoofing</h3><p><a href="https://certera.com/blog/what-is-dns-poisoning-or-dns-spoofing/">DNS spoofing</a> is a process that manipulates the DNS cache and reroutes the request of a user from the appropriate authoritative server to a fake server.</p><p>The user attempts to access a legitimate HTTPS website, but instead is rerouted to a site operated by the attacker using an insecure HTTP connection. This makes it possible for the attacker to cancel the HTTPS encryption and capture data.</p><p>DNS spoofing is a form of attack that is considered to be very dangerous because it attacks the system of DNS, and this means that the user will hardly notice that they have been taken to a fake website.</p><h3>ARP Spoofing</h3><p>It is a type of attack in which the attackers forward fake Address Resolution Protocol messages within a local network.</p><p>To perform this task, hackers decode the MAC address and associate it with the IP of a genuine server or another user on the network, and reroute the traffic to their device.</p><p>As soon as the connection is compromised, it is downgraded from <a href="https://certera.com/blog/port-80-http-vs-port-443-https-everything-to-know-about/">‘https’ (secure) to ‘http’ (insecure)</a>. This enables them to change or supervise the sort of data being transmitted.</p><p> It is ideal in the local network environment, where the attacker can inject the fake ARP with ease and efficiency.</p><h3>Proxy Servers</h3><p>Some attacks involve code that has been inserted into the lists of proxy servers; such code serves to change every web traffic stream.</p><p>These proxies work in a way that when users set their browsers to use the proxies, the proxy removes the HTTPS encryption, thus making the traffic flow under HTTP.</p><p>This causes the attackers to be able to monitor and capture data the moment that it is being transmitted.</p><p>Hackers benefit from the fact that people rely on proxies to control web traffic and improve performance by installing a malicious proxy.</p><p>By using the proxy, the attacker has full control over the traffic flow and can demoralize the encrypted flow without even alerting the user, thus facilitating and easy to steal his/her information.</p><h2>Examples of SSL Stripping Attacks</h2><p>Suppose you sit in a café somewhere reading and connected to the public Wi-Fi network. An attacker also gets to the same network positions to act as a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM).</p><p>When you enter the URL and attempt to sign in to your bank’s website, the attacker is capable of intercepting this request. Hackers remove the <a href="https://certera.com/blog/what-is-https-why-its-important-for-website-and-seo/">HTTPS security layer</a> and redirect users to a similar website with an HTTP address.</p><p>You head in, oblivious of the change, and feed in your login details, making it easy for the attacker to harvest the information in plain text. This makes them able to have a sneak peek into your bank account with the intention of embezzling your money.</p><p>While in a hotel, you access what seems to be the hotel’s free Wi-Fi. This has allowed an attacker to establish a fake access point appearing to be from the hotel network name.</p><p>Once the network has been compromised, the attacker controls all the internet traffic that flows through their machine. Whenever you go to the site of your email service provider, the attacker simply removes the HTTPS, which leads to an HTTP mode.</p><p>Once you input your email credentials, the attacker then records and promptly gains access to your personal and sensitive emails.</p><p>The situational scenario in the corporate environment reveals that an attacker has breached the network and then proceeds to DNS spoofing.</p><p>Attackers tamper with the DNS cache to ensure anyone attempting to access the organization’s secure internal website over HTTPS is instead taken to a malicious HTTP version.</p><p>Employees, figuring that they are authenticating themselves on a legitimate site, input their credentials and the attacker records them.</p><p>This enables the attacker to get unauthorized access to important company data and, in the process, bring operations to stand standstill or even steal ideas.</p><p>A typical example of the implementation of a man-in-the-middle attack in a shared office space is where an attacker executes an ARP spoofing attack and maps their MAC address to that of the default gateway IP address of the network.</p><p>This means that all traffic coming from other users in the network is being channeled through the particular attacker’s device. An example is when a user attempts to contact an e-commerce website in an effort to make a purchase.</p><p>The attacker hijacks the stream of data and removes the encryption created by HTTPS to obtain the credit card information of the user and proceeds to siphon their cash.</p><p>A university increases its chance of being ranked high when its students are advised to use a Proxy Server for Internet connection. A student links to an attacker’s website with a fake proxy server, and the student defaults to using this proxy.</p><p>Whenever the student accesses secure sites, the proxy removes the HTTPS, and thus the traffic is converted to HTTP.</p><p>Some of the personal info that is intercepted includes: login details, academic transcripts, and personal messages that users trusted the proxy server with.</p><h2>How to Detect SSL Stripping?</h2><p>It may be difficult to detect SSL stripping attacks because it is a form of man-in-the-middle attack, which seeks to undermine HTTPS connections by replacing them with HTTP.</p><p>However, there are several techniques that can be used in the detection of such an attack. One of the approaches includes trying to detect network traffic for indications of SSL stripping activity.</p><p>This can be done using network monitoring tools or Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) that analyze packet headers and alert the administrator whenever they sense that connections being made over HTTPS are being downgraded to HTTP.</p><p>Another approach is to monitor how the browser functions and search for signs that HTTPS connections are being intercepted.</p><p>For instance, most browsers will employ a padlock symbol within the address bar to signify an SSL connection.</p><p>But if this icon becomes missing, or a warning message overlays it, this is a clear indication of SSL stripping. Furthermore, browsers can also provide notifications or pop-ups when trying to navigate to a site over HTTP that should use HTTPS.</p><h2>How to Prevent SSL Stripping Attacks?</h2><h3>Add HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS)</h3><p><a href="https://certera.com/blog/hsts-explained-detailed-guide-on-http-strict-transport-security/">HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS)</a> is perhaps one of the most important WSP mechanisms that works for protecting the web from SSL stripping attacks.</p><p>Through enforced connections, HSTS makes browsers use only secure connections by not allowing any other connections to a website apart from HTTPS connections.</p><p>If enabled, attempts to navigate back to an HTTP website will be met with restrictions of the browser. This is usually attained by enabling the HSTS header in the server response.</p><p><em><strong>Strict-Transport-Security: </strong>max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains</em></p><h3>Use Secure Cookies</h3><p>Make sure that each cookie established should have the “Secure” and “HttpOnly” attributes maintained. The “Secure” attribute prevents the cookie from being sent in the HTTP connection, but is also limited to sending using the HTTPS connection; the “HttpOnly” attribute does not allow the client script to access the cookie.</p><p><em><strong>Set-Cookie:</strong> sessionId=abc123; Secure; HttpOnly</em></p><h3>Force HTTPS on Server-Side</h3><p>Make sure that the web server is set up so that any and all HTTP connections get redirected to HTTPS. This prevents users from entering a URL with HTTP, only to be forwarded to a page that converts the URL to HTTPS. Apache, Nginx and other web servers allow for wide and quite obvious configurations to enforce this.</p><p><strong>For Apache:</strong></p><pre><code><em><VirtualHost *:80></em><em> ServerName www.example.com</em><em> Redirect permanent / https://www.example.com/</em><em></VirtualHost></em></code></pre><p><strong>For Nginx:</strong></p><pre><code><em morss_own_score="6.0" morss_score="14.0">server {</em><em> listen 80;</em><em> server_name example.com www.example.com;</em><em> return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;</em><em>}</em></code></pre><h3>Deploy Certificate Pinning</h3><p>Through <a href="https://certera.com/blog/what-is-certificate-pinning-how-does-certificate-pinning-work/">Certificate Pinning</a>, it is possible to bind a particular certificate or a public key to a particular server to avoid man-in-the-middle attacks by using forged certificates.</p><p>This can be used in programs where it is wanted that the programs only take the certificates that are generated from a <a href="https://certera.com/ssl">trusted CA or Certificate Authorities</a>.</p><h3>Use Browser Security Extensions</h3><p>Users must be encouraged to install security-related browser add-ons, including HTTPS Everywhere.</p><p>These extensions enhance the ability of requests to be rewritten for HTTPS when the server supports this feature, thereby addressing the vulnerability of SSL stripping.</p><h2>Conclusion</h2><p>An effective way for protection against SSL stripping is to integrate <a href="https://certera.com/">Certera’s wide range of protection solutions</a>. When engaging with Certera, you get to harness the latest technologies and insights to deploy the proper countermeasures against cyber attacks.</p><div class="spu-placeholder" style="display:none"></div><div class="addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content addtoany_content_bottom"><div class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_20 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="https://securityboulevard.com/2025/11/what-is-ssl-stripping-how-to-prevent-ssl-stripping-attacks/" data-a2a-title="What is SSL Stripping? 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Read the original post at: <a href="https://certera.com/blog/what-is-ssl-stripping-how-to-prevent-ssl-stripping-attacks/">https://certera.com/blog/what-is-ssl-stripping-how-to-prevent-ssl-stripping-attacks/</a> </p>