Managed Internet Services

Recent Insight

Email spoofing is a popular strategy used in spam and phishing emails. It involves modifying an email header so that the message appears to have been sent by someone else other than the actual sender.

For example, imagine that you're a Gmail user and receive a message from the following address: support@google.com. Seeing a familiar email address, you open the message and find out that Google needs you to reset your password because someone has been trying to hack your account. Since you have no reason to question the claim's validity, you click on the included password reset link and reset your password.

The only problem is that Google didn't send the original message. Instead, a cybercriminal used email spoofing to trick you into thinking that they are Google. With your Gmail password, they can now access your online banking, social media, and possibly even other email accounts.

The reason why it's so easy to spoof emails is quite simple: original email software designs did not consider today's need for security and privacy in mind. Instead, email was to be an open service run by academics for other academics. As a result, it wasn't until the 1980s that email hosting services started popping up, and the word "email" entered the public lexicon.

Not long after that, email spam started to multiply exponentially, and email spoofing became a common strategy. Today, email fraud accounts for billions of dollars in losses annually, with 76% of businesses reporting becoming victims of a phishing attack in the last year.

Should you receive an email with this type of request, do not click on the link provided. Instead, go to the site you usually use and sign in there and check for issues.