| Active Attacks | Passive Attacks |
| Attacker try to modify/corrupt the data/message | Attacker try to read/monitor the data/message |
| Affects the system/session/conversation, as data is corrupted/altered | Does not affect system/session/conversation, as data is not altered/modified |
| Can be easily detected | Cannot be easily detected |
| It is a threat to Integrity and Availability of data | It is a threat to Confidentiality of data/message |
| Requires a physical control over the link to capture the data/message and modify it | Just observe the transmission |
| Victim does get informed about the attack. | Victim does not get informed about the attack. |
| In active attacks attention is on detection | In passive attacks attention is on prevention |
| It is difficult to stop active attacks from entering into our systems | Compared to active attacks, passive attacks are easy to handle |
| In active attacks system resources can be impacted | In passive attacks system resources are not impacted |
| Examples – Masquerade, DoS and Replay Attacks | Examples – Release the message content and traffic analysis |