What is spoofing? Simply explained

The translation already gives you an idea of what spoofing is. In the world of the World Wide Web, it refers to methods used by criminals to remain undetected

What spoofing is and includes

Spoofing can be translated into German as parody and, in a way, this analogy also fits with what cyber criminals do to gain your trust. This is because they assume an identity that fools both your network and you into believing they are trustworthy and may respond to certain requests or click on virus-infected content.

• “Spoofing” can therefore also be translated from English with verbs such as “to fake”, “to deceive” or “to trick”. By pretending to be a person or member of an organization you are familiar with, for example in the form of the grandchild trick or by forging email headers, criminals are more likely to trick you.

• The criminals usually falsify the IP, name or address of the sender in the spoof e-mails.

• With spoofing, criminals aim to obtain personal data in particular by means of phishing or pharming. However, it is also possible that they install malware such as keyloggers on your system via attachments or links.

• Anti-virus software manufacturers in particular also refer to phishing as brand spoofing. If a computer program repeatedly generates new spoofing emails or increasingly directs the user to spoofing URLs, i.e. fake websites, experts refer to this as a spoofing attack.

How to take action against spoofing

To recognize and prevent spoofing attacks, you should carefully examine the various properties of every email you write and be suspicious of any suspicious features.

• An indication of spoofing is when an email ends up in the spam folder. However, this is not the only way to tell whether the email comes from a legitimate sender or is a clear phishing email

• Phishing pages are also easy to recognize if you know what to look out for. However, many browsers already react to websites that appear dubious.

• Do not click on links or attachments that seem strange to you, nor should you simply pass on sensitive data such as passwords, account details and the like by telephone or e-mail. No reputable provider will ask you to do this, but will usually contact you by post.

• If you have caught malware, adware or a Trojan, it’s not all doom and gloom. In some cases, you can remove them yourself

• In addition, the German Federal Office for Information Security recommends protecting your computer with an active firewall and updated anti-virus software.