What is Email Spoofing?
1. What is Email Spoofing?
Email Spoofing is essentially fake or deceptive emails that manipulate user information. Fraudsters use this method to distribute viruses and malware on user devices.
Sometimes, in some cases, you may receive emails sent from your own email address.
In this case, it is highly likely that someone is impersonating your email address. The fraudster may have obtained your email address through various means, including through social media accounts and common contacts. Or it could also be because your email address is in the public domain and publicly available.
Users often have the habit of sending important documents, images, etc., via email to ensure access to these documents anytime, anywhere, instead of uploading them to cloud storage services. Exploiting this opportunity, cybercriminals can impersonate email addresses and send emails with attached links containing malware to deceive users into clicking. When users click on the link, they are inadvertently creating an opportunity for viruses and malware to infiltrate and spread on their computers.
2. How is Email Address Spoofing Done?
To spoof a user's email, all a fraudster needs is a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server, which is essentially an email sending server. This SMTP server can be Microsoft Office Outlook.
Additionally, the fraudster also needs to provide a display name, email address, and login information, including username and password. The login information is used to log into the user's email account, after which they can impersonate the username and email address with any name.
Code libraries like PHPMailer will arrange the process logically, with the fraudster only needing to fill in the 'From' field, compose the email, and add the recipient's address.
However, most mail servers require users to authenticate to log in. To bypass this process and continue logging in to the victim's email address to spoof emails, the fraudster will use 'botnets' as mail servers.
A botnet is a system of infected computers designed to distribute viruses, spam, and worms to other devices.
3. Why would a stranger receive an email from you?
In the event of a server being unlawfully breached, malware will scan the contact addresses and send malware to those addresses via the email application. Anyone with a name in your contact list will also receive this email.
Regarding the operation of viruses, the more the virus spreads and infects multiple servers, the more personal information of users it collects and steals. One of the most frightening ways viruses spread is through malware installed on devices but disguised as benign software, similar to Trojan.
4. What to Do If You Receive a Suspicious Email?
If you suspect an email is fake, absolutely do not click on or download any attached links, even if the email appears to be from a user you trust.
Or if you're unsure, you can directly ask the email sender.
5. What to Do When Someone is Using Your Email?
If you receive an email from your own email address but the sender is not you, it's best not to click on any links or download any attachments.
If you don't remember sending the email to yourself, you can check your sent folder. Additionally, if you suspect unauthorized access to your account, simply log in to Gmail and check the Last Account Activity section for recent login information, and change your password immediately.
This article by Mytour provides detailed information about what Email Spoofing is. If you have any questions or need clarification on topics like IP Spoofing, feel free to leave your comments below the article.