Email spoofing is when a possible scammer creates an email header’s “from” address to help make it seem like it was sent out by another person, usually a contact like a colleague, high-level executive, or trusted vendor.
If you are reading this article, there’s a good chance you have heard about the phenomenon of email spoofing. Email spoofing is when a possible scammer creates an email header’s “from” address to help make it seem like it was sent out by another person, usually a contact like a colleague, high-level executive, or trusted vendor. This kind of identity deception is used in spam attacks and phishing attempts to help boost the open rate and efficacy of malicious emails. In a lot of email attacks, embedded links could lead to phishing sites designed to swipe away sensitive information or login credentials from possible recipients. A few of them contain malware-filled attachments or employ social engineering to bamboozle well-researched targets out of money in business email compromise scams and spear-fishing attempts. In today’s article, we are going to cover just how email spoofing works and how you can protect your organization the best you can.
What Happens with Email Spoofing?
In order to spoof your emails, all a scammer has to do is set up or compromise an existing server. From there, they are able to go and manipulate the “from,” return-path,” and “reply-to” email addresses to make their phishing emails seem legitimate from the person or company they are acting as. This deception is made possible by the fact that SMP, or simple message transfer used by email servers to send, receive, and outgoing relay emails – lacks a natural mechanism for authenticating possible email addresses. Because of how common these types of emails can be at times, phishing attacks that were launched from the cloud email accounts are much less likely to be noticed and blocked than those sent from a similar domain.
The Negative Effects of Email Spoofing
There are a handful of adverse effects of email spoofing attacks. One negative impact is financial, as fraudulent emails being sent that appear legitimate can lead to millions of dollars lost. Reputational effects exist as well. If customers start getting shady emails that appear to come from your business but have malicious links or lack genuine credibility, they might start to think twice about doing business with your organization. If they do happen to fall victim to a weird scam impersonating your organization or one of its main executives, the damage could be brutal for your brand reputation and ruinous for your professional relationships all across the industry you are in.
How to Notice a Spoofed Email
If you notice a spoofed email, then you can prevent your employees from clicking links and putting organization data at risk. Here at En-Net Services, we can help with educational cybersecurity training as well, but look out for any mismatched “from” addresses or display names, message content that seems odd, and “reply-to” headers that don’t match the original source of the sender.
En-Net Services Can Help Today
Experience a superior method of getting the public sector technology solutions you need through forming a partnership with En-Net Services. Our seasoned team members are familiar with the distinct purchasing and procurement cycles of state and local governments, as well as Federal, K-12 education, and higher education entities. En-Net is a certified Maryland Small Business Reserve with contract vehicles and sub-contracting partnerships to meet all contracting requirements.