What Is Spoofing?

You have probably heard the term spoofing & wondered exactly what does that mean? The word originated with a British comic Arthur Roberts back in 1884. They invented a game called Spoof which included trickery & deception. Over time the word came to represent a mocking imitation of someone or a practical joke or joke.

In today's net world, it is taken on a more disagreeable note & often refers to criminal activities.

When it comes to e mail, spoofing is forging an e mail & making it look like it comes from the originator when it is actually coming from another source. Of our customers had an e mail account that they had not used in over a year. Recently a mate mentioned they were receiving emails from this source. This concerns me because spammers use spoofing to get you to open emails that you would not otherwise open. The objective is to get you to reply to these emails & possibly give knowledge that you would not normally give to a stranger.

The primary objective of the hacker is to get you to download damaging application or click on links that would take you to places you require not go. Of the more common e mail spoofs recently has been an e mail from a delivery service such as UPS or Fed Ex stating that you require confirming a delivery.

What Can You Do? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Make positive that you change the password to your e mail account on a regular basis. There are programs such as Last Pass or RoboForm which can help you with these changes. Make positive that your password is strong using a combination of upper & lower case letters, numbers & symbols. Your password ought to always be over 8 characters. You may need to write down your password but keep it where it cannot be fundamentally found. This is important in your work surroundings.

2. You will need to run a scan regularly to insure there is no malware on your machine. You can use a program such as VIPRE or call your local computer store for assistance. Regrettably you won't know until it is late that your method has been hacked & a spammer is sending emails from your account. An everyday scan of your method will prevent your method from being turned in to a "spam zombie."

3. People often forget that when they sign up for accounts like Yahoo or Gmail they are asked for an alternative e mail address. You need to check this e mail address to make positive that you can still access the account. It is common for a spoofer to hack this account & remove your login & replace it with their login.

4. Periodically check to make positive your security questions have not been altered. These are the questions you are asked when you first sign up for an account such as your pet's name or where you were married. This is important in the event you have signed up for online payments. Don't use the same query & answer for all of your accounts. Every month or so check the accounts to make positive the answers have not been altered.

5. In some instances an account will ask for your phone number & give you a code to confirm your identity. As with the security questions, check your account to make positive that your phone number has not been changed.

By taking a few precautions, you are reducing the chance of being hacked by the bad guys & stopping them from taking over your account. Of work, nothing is foolproof but these steps will go a long way to defending your e mail & online accounts.

There is a rare situation where your e mail address may have been used in what is called a spam campaign. This is where your e mail address is the "from" address. In this case your account has not been technically "hacked" & malware would not be able to detect this action.

You will know when this happens because you will be getting hundreds, if not thousands, of bounce-back emails telling you that the e mail was undeliverable. In this case, the only thing you can do is ride it out. In the event you are using Outlook, you can setup a rule that sends these emails to a separate folder.