What is Email Spoofing? A Beginner’s Guide to Stay Safe
Spammers use Email Spoofing to trick users by making them believe that the Email is from a trusted person or agency. Spammers manipulate Email headers in such a way that the user can only distinguish it from the real Email address by analysing it in detail. Such minor details are very hard to notice.
An example would be a simple change like unclesam@gmail.com to Unclesam@gmail.com, which may miss the eye by most users.
Email spoofing is a very common and widespread tool of theft and fraud, as most platforms lack basic security protocols to prevent it.
Let’s Explore Some History of Email Spoofing Attacks
Email spoofing started as phishing attacks back in the 90s in America. Hackers created fake American online accounts with the help of false credit card details.
Is Email Spoofing the Same as Email Phishing?
The answer is No! People often confuse the two with each other, but they are not the same, as spoofing involves stealing someone’s identity, while another one involves stealing the user’s data.
How Email Spoofing Works?
Email Spoofing is done using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). After composing an Email, the spammer forges fields found within the Email header like FROM, REPLY TO, etc. The recipient receives the Email from the forged address. There are three major components of an email:
- The sender address
- Recipient address
- The body of the email
Reply- To field is also used in phishing. The sender configures this field and uses it for these attacks. The user has to think for themselves if the reply is going to the wrong recipient.
In SMTP, there is no way to authenticate addresses, so it makes spoofing easier. Methods that are made to prevent this are being adopted slowly.
Email spoofing can be seen across multiple platforms, most notably peer-to-peer platforms like PayPal.
Why Email Spoofing is Dangerous in Cyber Security?
1. Leak of sensitive information: Your sensitive information, like login credentials for important sites, is at risk.
2. Financial fraud: Loss of credit card information and other banking details leads to huge financial losses.
3. Damage to the Image of Trusted Brand/Person: Spoofing often leads to a poor image of the brand/person the scammer is pretending to be.
4. Installation of Harmful Malware: Such dangerous malware can hamper the functioning of your whole operating system.
What are the Different Ways to Identify Spoof Emails?
- Check the Email header for minor mistakes from the original address.
- Try to find any disconnection between the sender’s name and the sender’s address.
- Check if the language of the mail is threatening, as spammers often impersonate important agencies and try to fool you into thinking you have done something wrong.
- Always be suspicious of Emails requesting personal information because spammers often target them at the top of their list.
- Do not click on any suspicious link; always verify using security tools.
- Verify details such as the contact signature name from the official website of the person impersonated.
Ways to prevent/avoid being a target of Email spoofing?
- Use Anti-Malware services: Anti-Malware software is designed to identify such threats and neutralize them.
- Use a Secure Email Gateway: Secure Email Gateways are a good way to filter out these spam emails and block them.
- Sender Policy Framework: You can use such email security protocols to avoid being a victim of spoofing.
- Education on cyber threats: You can educate yourself and your family/friends/employees on Cyber Threat Intelligence, as in the digital age, cyber threats are a big risk and cause lots of loss.
- Double sure before entering any personal information: Always double-check the authenticity of the Email or Website you enter.
- Advanced Cybersecurity Services: You can also avail of the advanced cybersecurity services offered by Cybersics. We provide expert cybersecurity training to keep you safe from hackers. on high-demand data security services.
- Always ensure that you have two-factor authentication enabled in your devices.
Some interesting statistics regarding Email Spoofing
- Only 7.7 % of the world’s topmost email domains are safe from spoofing, as they are the only ones that have implemented the strict DMARC protocols.
- Over 3 billion emails are spoofed daily.
- Email spoofing causes over $2.9 billion in annual losses.
- The latest attacks are using AI-based polymorphic phishing.
- Microsoft detected over 35 million Email spoofing attacks.
- Over 25 percent of phishing emails are caused because of spoofing.
Intelligent and well-to-do employees are also scammed into sending money when the request seems to be from someone they trust, especially from an authority position. Some high-profile examples of costly spoofing scams:
The Canadian City Treasure was tricked into transferring $98,000 from taxpayer money, who was pretending to be the city manager, Steve Kanellakos.
Mattel, which is a big multinational company, was also tricked. They sent $3 million to an account in China. Luckily, somehow it was enough to claw back the money when the defrauded financial executive confirmed that CEO Christopher Sinclair did not send the email message.
The Crelan bank in Belgium fell for the attackers’ trap and sent them €70 million.
What motivates spammers to do Email spoofing?
- Impersonate yourself online and cause harm to your image.
- Steal your data and sell it.
- Steal your financial information for financial fraud.
- Spread misinformation and create mistrust in the public.
- Distribute Malware/Ransomware to hijack your systems.
Conclusion
Email spoofing is a very widespread cybercrime used to cause harm to people’s reputations and finances. Spammers use it to find easy targets in everyday working people who are less aware of technical terms. Most common targets are senior citizens, as they are less familiar with technology. Email spoofing causes billions of dollars in financial losses every year throughout the globe.
It is not only limited to financial issues but also tarnishes brand image, causing mistrust in customers. Many spammers use it for personal gain and try to impersonate people online and to bring down their image.
Personal information like login credentials and credit card information can be easily stolen in a few minutes. This problem can only be prevented by educating a maximum number of people and putting in proper tools and systems to avoid any such attacks on a large scale, preventing mass loss.