How can I verify that a Monero Block explorer is not under a MITM attack? Aside com comparing the most recent block height and block hash with another blockchain explorer what else can I do?
This question is not meant to be specific to any particular Blockchain explorer but I am interested in how the answer varies (if at all) for clearnet vs Tor usage.
You can use MoneroPulse in your own node, start enforcing checkpoints with the --enforce-dns-checkpoining flag in bitmonerod, this means even in the event of a network attack you are following consensus and won't fall in a wrong fork, to compare the Block Explorer height and difficulty with yours in the clearnet or TOR, use the commands status and diff in the bitmonerod window.
This is not really Monero specific. You would do the usual. Try HTTPS (it cuts down on the number of attacks), check with and without Tor, maybe even with more than one exit node, and compare certificates. If the explorer does not support HTTPS, you could diff the HTML you got from Tor and non Tor connections, and check the only changes are things like timestamps etc.
