In network security circles, this is what’s known as a Man-In-The-Middle attack. And for years it has been understood to be possible in theory, but never seen in practice.
Uh, no. What happened here was a BGP hijack, which has happened MULTIPLE times over the last few years. IIRC the one with the biggest fallout was some Pakistani ISP which fucked up a YouTube block order - they broadcasted the null-route to the entire Internet and Google couldn't do anything, lol.
And even "normal" MITM attacks have been done for years now. Every ISP doing censorship, BitTorrent throttling and anything that interrupts normal packet flow does active MITM attacking, and the NSA listening posts are passive MITM posts.
And even "normal" MITM attacks have been done for years now. Every ISP doing censorship, BitTorrent throttling and anything that interrupts normal packet flow does active MITM attacking, and the NSA listening posts are passive MITM posts.