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SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/secplus-watering-hole

Compromising a website that a target group often visits, to infect them, is called what?

Watering hole, the attacker waits where the targets already go.

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  1. A typosquatting attack
  2. A replay attack
  3. A watering hole attack ✔

Why: Instead of attacking a hardened target directly, attackers infect a trusted site its users visit. Visitors get infected just by browsing.

Huh, didn't know that: MITRE ATT&CK also calls this kind of targeted campaign a strategic web compromise.

The dad joke
The antelope avoided the watering hole. Too many crocodiles in the comments.
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References

Answer: A watering hole attack. Instead of attacking a hardened target directly, attackers infect a trusted site its users visit. Visitors get infected just by browsing.

  1. NIST CSRC Glossary: Watering Hole csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/watering_hole
    compromising one or more legitimate Web sites with malware in an attempt to target and infect visitors to those sites
    Checked 2026-10-10.
  2. MITRE ATT&CK T1189, Drive-by Compromise attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1189
    often referred to a strategic web compromise or watering hole attack
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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