Does a YURL prevent a Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attack?
Yes, defending against an MITM attack is the defined purpose of a YURL. In an MITM attack, the attacker acts as a middleman between the client and the server, viewing and possibly modifying all communications between them. A YURL is a URL that prevents this type of attack by enforcing the y-property. A YURL scheme typically implements the y-property by including the fingerprint of the server’s public key directly in the URL. This technique makes an MITM attack impossible.
