---
title: Placeholder names
slug: Glossary/Placeholder_names
tags:
  - Cryptography
  - Glossary
  - Security
---
Placeholder names are commonly used in cryptography to indicate the participants in a conversation, without resorting to terminology such as "Party A," "eavesdropper," and "malicious attacker."

The most commonly used names are:

- _Alice_ and _Bob_, two parties who want to send messages to each other, occasionally joined by _Carol_, a third participant
- _Eve_, a passive attacker who is eavesdropping on Alice and Bob's conversation
- _Mallory_, an active attacker ("man-in-the-middle") who is able to modify their conversation and replay old messages
