A passive attack on a cryptosystem is one in which the cryptanalyst cannot interact with any of the parties involved, attempting to break the system solely based upon observed data (i.e. the ciphertext). This can also include known plaintext attacks where both the plaintext and its corresponding ciphertext are known.

While active attackers can interact with the parties by sending data, a passive attacker is limited to intercepting communications (eavesdropping), and seeks to decrypt data by interpreting the transcripts of authentication sessions. Since passive attackers do not introduce data of their own, they can be difficult to detect.

While most classical ciphers are vulnerable to this form of attack, most modern ciphers are designed to prevent this type of attack above all others.