Have you ever received a fake email from a bank congratulating you for winning a cash prize or informing you about suspicious activity on your account? And then the email tricks you into providing sensitive information for further action. This is a simple, day-to-day example of email spoofing.
Email spoofing is a common type of cyber threat wherein emails are sent with a forged sender address. These emails are often used to deliver phishing attacks or spam. Email spoofing began in the 70s and has increased tremendously since then. Every day, approximately 3.1 to 3.4 billion domain spoofing emails are sent, which makes email spoofing a major cybersecurity threat.
Since email protocols cannot authenticate the source of an email on their own, receivers are easily tricked into providing their sensitive information. This often results in financial losses for individuals and businesses.
So, what can be done to prevent email spoofing and protect your business? Continue to read the blog to know everything about email spoofing, how it works, and how to combat it.
Email Spoofing Definition
It is a common tool for phishing attacks that aims to make the recipient believe the email originates from an authentic source. Believing the email came from a trusted source, the receiver, unknowingly, engages with the email. This potentially exposes them to taking unintended action.
But why email forgery is done? Well, email spoofing is often done to either distribute malware, steal login credentials, or manipulate financial transactions. Not only this, but these emails try to convince employees to provide sensitive information, make payments, or infect a complete organization’s network with ransomware.
While email spoofing is a common form of phishing attacks, these aren’t the same. Let’s learn more about the differences between the two.
Difference Between Email Spoofing & Phishing Attacks
| Features | Email Spoofing | Phishing Attacks |
| Definition | Forging the sender’s email address to appear as a trusted source | A fraudulent attempt to trick users into revealing sensitive information. |
| Purpose | To impersonate a legitimate sender and gain trust | To steal personal information, credentials, or financial data. |
| How it works? | Users fake email headers to mask the true sender | Often includes fake links, attachments, or requests for sensitive data. |
| Key Indicators | Mismatched email domains, unusual sender, and lack of authentication | Urgent requests, poor grammar, fake websites, and attachments with malware. |
| Common Examples | A fake email from your CEO asking for urgent action | A fake email claiming you have won a lottery and need to enter your bank details. |
| Prevention Methods | Use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication, verify sender addresses, email secure server | Avoid clicking unknown links, verify URLs, and enable multi-factor authentication (MAF). |
Note: While spoofing can involve phishing, phishing is not an element of spoofing.
How Email Spoofing Works?
- Email spoofing leverages SMPT” ‘s lack of authentication, allowing hackers to forge sender addresses.
- Hackers/attackers find a mail server with an open SMTP port to send spoofed emails easily.
- More advanced cybercriminals may set up their own email servers to carry out large-scale spooning campaigns.
- They often imitate CEOs or executives, causing fraud or financial losses.
- Some hackers create email addresses that look similar to legitimate ones (e.g. replacing ‘O’ with ‘0’, or ‘I’ with ‘1’.)
How Does Email Spoofing Affect Businesses?
So, are all spoofed emails serious? Well, not really! However, more harmed ones can cause significant damage. There are several ways in which hackers try to affect businesses through email spoofing, including:
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Financial Loss
Spoofed emails often target employees and deceive them. Attackers pretend to be company executives or trusted vendors and trick employees into sending money to fake accounts. This type of spam is called Business Email Compromise (BEC), and led to over $2.7 billion in losses globally in 2023. Cybercriminals take advantage of weak email security in organizations to avoid detection.
2.Operational Disruption
Attackers, through email spoofing, often plans ransomware attacks or other malware that can hinder business operations. In 2017, the WannaCry ransomware attack was spread through email spoofing. It tricked users into opening malicious attachments, leading to locked company files and access to payment. This ransomware affected over 200,000 computers in 150 countries, shutting down hospitals, government agencies, and businesses.
Recovery from such attacks is usually time-consuming (prolonged downtime) and requires resource-intensive solutions.
3.Regulatory Penalties
Organizations that are unable to protect their email systems efficiently risk violating data protection regulations such as HIPAA or GDPR. Violation of regulations often cause them to pay hefty fines and legal actions.
4.Data Breaches
Employees often get fooled by spoofed emails tricking them to share sensitive information, such as client data, intellectual property, or trade secrets. Such data breaches can lead to loss of competitive advantage and even legal penalties.
5.Reputational Damage
Customers or partners receiving spoofed emails from a company’s email leads to distrust and damages brand reputation. Even a single incident can cause a long-term consumer confidence loss.
How To Identify Email Spoofing?
Email spoofing is definitely preventive by implementing strong security measures. However, precautions are always better than cure. By detecting signs of email spoofing, you can save your employees and businesses from significant losses. Here are some signs and cues:
- Check the email header
A typical email header consists of subject line, date, recipient’s and sender’s names, and email address. Verify that the email address is from a trusted source and ensure the name and other details are correct.
- Evaluate the email content
Spoofing emails typically use scary or urgent language to make you act quickly without thinking. So, if the subject line or email message tries to pressure or panic you, it’s likely a fake email.
- Check for mismatched details
If the email address doesn’t match the sender’s name in the message, it likely indicates a spoofed email. This is particularly true for the suspicious domain of the email address.
- Avoid engaging with the email
Spoofed emails often ask you to click a link or download an attachment. If the email appears suspicious, do not engage with it in any way.
- Beware of emails asking for personal information
Never, we say, never provide your personal or sensitive information to suspicious emails, which is a common tactic of spoofed emails to trick recipients.
- Check for email content on the internet
Copy and paste the email message into Google or any search engine. There are chances that people have already reported a similar phishing attack on the internet.
- Check for inconsistencies in email signature
If the phone number or other details in the email signature do not match the sender’s real information, the email might be fake.
To protect your organization and employees from the risks of email spoofing, a people-minded, user-focused approach is the key.
The Final Words
Undoubtedly, email spoofing has become a serious threat to businesses and even individuals. It often causes financial losses, trust issues, and security risks. It not only makes you lose money, but businesses often face data breaches and trust issues.
To stay safe, businesses should look for signs of spoofed emails before engaging with suspicious emails. Besides, they should use strong security measures like email secure server, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to block fake emails. Lastly, being proactive is the best way to protect your business.
