Email is one of the most widely used methods of communication in business, which also makes it a common target for cybercriminals. One technique used to trick individuals and organisations is email spoofing. But what is email spoofing and how you can take actions to protect yourself from it?
From fake invoices to urgent requests supposedly sent by your boss, email spoofing can be surprisingly convincing. Understanding it is one of the best ways to stay protected.
What Is Email Spoofing?
Email spoofing is a technique used by cybercriminals to disguise the sender of an email, making it appear as though the message has come from someone you know or trust.
For example, you might receive an email that appears to come from your bank, a supplier or even a colleague. However, the message has actually been sent by a scammer attempting to steal information, trick you into making a payment or encourage you to click a malicious link.
One of the most concerning aspects of email spoofing is that cybercriminals don’t necessarily need access to someone’s email account to impersonate them. Instead, they can manipulate sender information to make a message look legitimate.
How Does Email Spoofing Work?
When an email is sent, it contains information identifying the sender, including the email address displayed in the recipient’s inbox.
Cybercriminals can exploit weaknesses in email authentication to forge this information, making a message appear to originate from a trusted email address or domain.
They may also use similar-looking email addresses or misleading display names to create the same impression, e.g. lucy@example.com to Iucy@example.com. Although these are slightly different forms of email impersonation, they are often used alongside spoofing attacks.
Essentially if someone’s domain is set up incorrectly or doesn’t have the correct measures in place, cybercriminals can impersonate them or their colleagues using the same domain to pretend to be someone you trust. Using this trust to get you to click on malicious links or send sensitive information.
How Can You Recognise a Spoofed Email?
Although spoofed emails can appear convincing, there are often warning signs that something isn’t quite right.
Some common indicators include:
- Unexpected requests: Emails asking for payments, passwords or confidential information without prior warning.
- Urgent language: Messages pressuring you to act immediately or suggesting there will be consequences if you delay.
- Suspicious email addresses: Addresses containing subtle spelling differences, additional characters or unfamiliar domains.
- Unusual attachments or links: Files or website links you weren’t expecting to receive.
- Changes to payment details: Unexpected requests to transfer money to a different bank account.
It’s important to remember that sophisticated spoofing attacks won’t always contain obvious spelling mistakes or suspicious formatting.
Some fraudulent emails can look almost identical to legitimate business correspondence, which is why it’s essential to verify unusual requests through a separate, trusted communication channel.
What’s the Difference Between Email Spoofing and Phishing?
Although email spoofing and phishing are closely related, they’re not exactly the same thing.
Email spoofing refers to disguising the identity of an email sender to make a message appear trustworthy.
Phishing, on the other hand, is a type of cyberattack designed to trick someone into revealing sensitive information, clicking malicious links or taking another action that benefits the attacker.
They are often used hand in hand with sophisticated attacks, using email spoofing to make a phishing email appear more credible.
However, not every phishing email uses spoofing, and not every spoofed email necessarily contains a phishing attempt.
How Can You Prevent Email Spoofing?
While no single security measure can eliminate every form of email impersonation, businesses can significantly reduce the risks by putting certain measures in place.
Implementing email authentication protocols such as SPF, DKIM and DMARC helps protect your domain against unauthorised use, meaning that cybercriminals can’t pretend to be you. Protecting your colleagues customers and suppliers.
SPF – Sender policy framework essentially only allows emails from approved servers in.
DKIM – DomainKeys Identified Mail confirms that the email has not been tampered in transit.
DMARC – Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance is the final step, if any of the previous two checks fail, DMARC decides whether to let the email through, quarantine it or block it.
We also have a handy tool you can use to check the security of your domain.
To further protect your business from email spoofing attacks you can invest in security awareness training, email filtering and multi-factor authentication. Your employees should also verify unexpected requests, particularly those involving payments or sensitive information.
For a more detailed breakdown of the steps your business can take, read our guide on How to Prevent Email Spoofing.
Protecting Your Business Against Email Threats
Email spoofing is a reminder that cybercriminals don’t always need sophisticated technology to cause significant disruption. Sometimes, all it takes is a convincing email and an employee who believes the message is genuine.
By combining the right technical protections with employee awareness and clear procedures for handling suspicious communications, organisations can reduce their exposure to email-based threats. For more information on how your business can be protected against email spoofing, get in touch with Inventas today.
