How does email spoofing work?

The key to email spoofing is to choose one of the fields in an email's metadata and change it manually. Another key in email spoofing is the weakness in SMTP servers which do not authenticate every message they process.

What types of spoofing are there?

Spoofing comes in three flavors: Display names, domain names, and lookalike domains.

What is the goal of spoofing emails?

The hacker aims to deceive the recipient into giving up some sensitive information.

What is the difference between a spoofed account and a hacked one?

You can spoof an account without hacking it or usurping its use. When the account is hacked, the hacker has complete control over it. In addition, the emails sent are genuine in that they originate in your account. When spoofing is happening, the account is still safe. The spoofed emails look like they come from there, but they originate elsewhere.

My email has been spoofed! What can I do now?

Not much you can do. Make sure your actual account remains safe, set a good password, and ensure it won't get hacked in the future.

Email spoofing: What is it, its dangers, examples, and protection?

Jorge Felix - Cybersecurity Expert

Last updated: November 7, 2023

Read time: 9 minutes

This is an estimated reading time to let you know how long it will take you to read all the content on this particular PrivacySavvy.com page. However, it has a sneak peek, easy guide steps, and/or a quick list providing quick in-page navigations and easily-found answers if desired.

Email spoofing is an annoying strategy employed by hackers. It makes a false email look authentic by meddling with its metadata. This article explains all you need to know about it in detail.

THE TAKEAWAYS

Email spoofing is one of those hacks in which the victim does most of the harm. The purpose behind these is mostly to attain your confidential information. Hackers use different methods to spoof people via email today. However, it’s easily avoided by simple vigilance and reading emails attentively.

We have some bad news for you. We’re pretty sure that you’ve been emailed spoofed at least once. Email spoofing goes after everybody, targeting private individuals and big corporations alike.

So let’s see your case. Have you ever found a genuine message in your inbox, but you couldn’t be sure? Let’s say it was from somebody you know. But then it had a link asking you to do something out of character. So you must choose to click or not to click; that is the question.

And if you followed the link, everything seemed even weirder. This is the doubt the sender wants you to have. It opens the possibility for the hacker that you will follow the link and then the instructions on the target webpage. And then, you fell for it. Hopefully, when you saw the link’s target, you realized that it wasn’t legitimate after all and did nothing to compromise your security. But a lot of people do. And that’s what email spoofing is.

This article will tell you everything you need to know about email spoofing. Learn what it is, why people do it, and how to fight it successfully.

So what is email spoofing, anyway?

Email spoofing consists of sending an email with a fake sender address. This spoofing type aims to make the recipient think the message in question comes from a trusted source. It’s often associated with phishing attempts, which are strategies hackers use to squeeze sensitive information from otherwise sensible persons.