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I know it is a kinda funny and maybe even naive question but its still security related, so I decided to ask.

Bob and Alice are widely used names indicating the two end-users/parties for web protocols. But in security there is also a third entity, the malicious user. I read a blog post naming that entity "Maria". I giggled and wondered:

Is "Maria" actually a well-established name for the malicious user, in the security industry?

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    $\begingroup$ Wikipedia: Alice and Bob lists all commonly used characters. And it was actually the first hit I got when searching for "alice bob". Hint: it is usually Mallory. $\endgroup$
    – Steffen Ullrich
    Commented Oct 25, 2020 at 18:01
  • $\begingroup$ That's actually cool, thanks $\endgroup$
    – Dimitris
    Commented Oct 25, 2020 at 18:06
  • $\begingroup$ It was Eve, however, some people don't like it since Adam/Eve and Oscar is preferred. There is no standard. $\endgroup$
    – kelalaka
    Commented Oct 26, 2020 at 16:05
  • $\begingroup$ @kelalaka I always assumed "eve" was chosen because it relates to "evil" $\endgroup$
    – MechMK1
    Commented Oct 28, 2020 at 14:19
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    $\begingroup$ @kelalaka Sure, it's opinion-based. The explanation that Eve is "eavesdropping" and Mallory is "Malicious" makes sense though. $\endgroup$
    – MechMK1
    Commented Oct 28, 2020 at 14:24

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That's a funny question, I think it depends on the kind of attack you're performing.

For example, when you're trying to eavesdrop a communication, it's usually "Eve" who's doing it. For more generic attacks, "Mallory" (Coming from "malice") is the most common choice.

As Stephen Ullrich pointed out in his comment, here's a list of all the commonly used characters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob

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    $\begingroup$ In some texts, Eve is explicitly restricted to be a passive eavesdropper (e.g. listening only to a radio broadcast), while Mallory can perform Man-in-the-Middle attacks and more generally is an active adversary. $\endgroup$
    – fgrieu ♦
    Commented Oct 29, 2020 at 14:56
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Eve is an eavesdropper. Mallory is an active attacker. Carol and Dan and Erin are third and fourth and fifth participants respectively. Trudy is an intruder and Craig is a password cracker. Michael or Mike may be an alternative to Eve but Maria is an innocent.

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