Email Spoofing: Just Delete It

by | Aug 16, 2018 | Data Security, Email Environment Security, Uncategorized | 2 comments

Email Spoofing: Just Delete It
Once upon a time, not all that long ago, if you heard the word “spoof” you might have thought about a Mel Brooks movie, or a Carol Burnett skit, or any number of comedic acts presenting a humorous imitation of another act. The thought of “spoofing” someone was to give a good natured, exaggerated representation of an idiosyncrasy or interesting side of their personality.
 
Today, “Spoofing” has taken a decidedly unpleasant turn in meaning, and it is anything but humorous to deal with someone Spoofing you. Because, in today’s common terminology, to deal with a Spoofer is to deal with someone who is aggressively trying to get you to share information that may compromise your finances, your identity, or your network security. There are different kinds of Spoofing, but today we will focus on the email variety.
 

Email Spoofing

There is very little you can do to stop a Spoofed email from coming your way, and because of this we have all experienced it: the email that seems to come from a colleague, or an old friend from high school. Although, something about this email address does not look quite right. Didn’t this fiend have a Yahoo email and not a Hotmail account? Likewise, the body of the email says something like “Hey, I thought you would be interested in this…” followed by an unfamiliar website link. That link will lead to a destination which might wish to sell you something. Or… infect you with a virus. Or any number of bad things that you don’t want. 

 
Email Spoofing ExampleThere is a myriad of creative ways how a Spoofer would have been able to acquire your name and email address, so suffice it to say that you should always be very careful to guard your personal information. However the Spoofer did it, the Spoofer mined your name and email address, and has (at least) the name of a friend of yours. Let’s call your friend Bob. Then the Spoofer went to a free email service (like Hotmail or Gmail) and created an email account with Bob’s name on it. Now the Spoofer emails you, using the new email the Spoofer created under Bob’s name, and poses as your friend Bob. Now that the Spoofer is in contact with you, the is hope to profit off of you by getting you to sharepersonal or financial information.
 

There are some things you can do about this, and some things you cannot do about this. First, let’s begin with the things you can’t.

 

What you Cannot Do:

Because there are no core protocols, and therefore no mechanisms for authentication, in the creation of free emails, you cannot stop a Spoofer from setting up fake email accounts and emailing you if the Spoofer gets his hands on your email. So, honestly, the prevention is far more effective than any cure: Avoid any action that might make your email address available to people you don’t know. Your ability to prevent the reception of emails is limited to whatever filters your email system might have in place. Email filters, however, work best on filtering out mass emails attempting to sell car insurance to you; they do not work so well on emails from Bob.

 

What you Can Do: 

Whenever you receive an email from anyone, make a habit to double check the email address. The email address of a Spoofer will never be the same as that of the real person they are pretending to be. Delete the Spoofed email when it finds its way into your inbox. It is that simple.
 
Back in Medieval times one had to be afraid of highway robbers that would punch your lights out and steal your bag of coins. Here in the Age of Technology, Spoofers are the robbers of the information highway, but they cannot muscle you into submission; they have to rely on your gullibility to get your information or your money. You can easily defend yourself from sinister Spoofed emails with the Stop Spoofers slogan: “Just Delete It.”

2 Comments

  1. Cassandra
    Cassandra on August 22, 2018 at 12:42 pm

    Great information! I get these emails occasionally and this info is really helpful. I’ll definetly be making sure that this article makes it’s way to all of my clients!

    • Katherine Parker
      Katherine Parker on August 22, 2018 at 1:12 pm

      Thank you, Cassandra! To be sure, to be forewarned about how to detect spoofers is to be forearmed. Thank you for your great feedback!