Email Spoofing

November 21, 2023 - Around 2 mins mins to read

Understanding Email Spoofing

Email spoofing is a technique commonly used in spam and phishing attacks. The main objective is to trick recipients into thinking that a message is coming from a trusted person or entity they know in real life. In these attacks, the sender manipulates the email headers to display a fake sender address, which is often accepted as genuine by unsuspecting users.

If not carefully examined, recipients will see the falsified sender information in the message. If the name seems familiar, they are more likely to trust the email and may unknowingly click on harmful links, open malware attachments, or even reveal sensitive information and transfer company funds.

Email spoofing is possible due to the way email systems are designed. When composing outgoing messages, the sender address is assigned by the client application, and outgoing email servers do not have the capability to verify the authenticity of the sender address. While recipient servers and anti-malware software can help identify and filter spoofed messages, not all email services have implemented comprehensive security protocols. Users can examine email headers, which are included with most messages, to determine if the sender address has been forged.

It is important to note that email spoofing has been a concern since the early 1970s, initially used by spammers to evade email filters. However, the issue gained more attention in the 1990s and continues to be a significant cybersecurity threat from the 2000s to the present day.