Email spoofing sits at the center of most phishing scams. A 2017 study reported nearly 30,000 spoofing attacks every day. If you have ever received an email that looked like it came from you — or from your boss — you have seen the tactic.
What spoofing is for
Criminals impersonate a trusted sender to get you to hand over credentials, money, or a click on malware. Display-name spoofing is the most common form. Attackers also spoof addresses and lookalike domains after researching a company’s hierarchy.
How to fight it
- SPF — publish which IP addresses may send mail for your domain.
- DKIM — cryptographically sign messages so receivers can tell if the body was altered.
- DMARC — tell receivers what to do when SPF/DKIM fail, and get reports on abuse of your domain.
These records are free DNS TXT records. Deployment can still be tricky. Pair them with a secure email gateway and user reporting. Contact Cyber Security Resource if you need the controls implemented as part of a broader program.