What Is Spoofing? How to Prevent Spoofing Attacks

Have you ever received a call from a local area code only to realize it's a spammer on the other line? What about an email from a business claiming to be Target or Walmart letting you know you've won a major award? These scams are known as "spoofing," and they are becoming more common - and more dangerous. In this article, learn about various spoofing techniques used through IP addresses, emails, phone calls, and websites to understand how to protect yourself from these types of attacks.

What is spoofing?

Spoofing is a cyberattack in which a malicious actor pretends to be a legitimate source to gain unauthorized access to private data or spread malware. Typically, these cybercriminals disguise themselves using similar domain names, phone numbers, usernames, or email addresses.

For example, you might receive an email from Amazon using a fake email domain, like [email protected]. In the message itself, the scammer will prompt you to click a button or open a link, usually with a sense of urgency. But once you click that link, it downloads harmful malware onto your device or takes you to a page where it asks for your personal information.

Because you don't realize it's fraudulent, you unwittingly reveal your personal information, such as passwords, bank account data, or Social Security number. All of this leads to cases of identity theft and fraud, which are incredibly damaging to the victims.

Ultimately, spoofers aim to gain victims' trust. Once an unsuspecting victim trusts that the attacker is a real or reliable source, the hacker can manipulate the victim into providing whatever information or resources they seek.

How does spoofing work?

In a spoofing attack, a criminal or cyberattacker attempts to impersonate a different user or another legitimate source. Spoofing attacks typically work by using both technological and social engineering techniques in order to convince a victim that the spoofer is genuine. In a successful spoofing attack, the spoofer will first create an account or website that appears to be that of a legitimate company or friend of the victim. Then, they will attempt to reach out to the victim posing as that legitimate source.

Because the victim believes the spoofer to be someone they know or trust, they will feel comfortable providing sensitive information or financial support. Once this happens, the spoofing attack can be considered a success.

Types of spoofing

There are many different types of spoofing. Some attacks, like those involving phone numbers and emails, are called phishing attacks since they involve direct communication with victims to "catch" them. These attacks rely on social engineering, the act of convincing a person to take an action because they believe the person on the other end of the communication is legitimate.

Other types of spoofing, like ARP and DNS spoofing, are more complicated. Here are the most common techniques.

Caller ID spoofing

Phone number spoofing, or caller ID spoofing, is where spoofers change the phone number that appears on your caller ID when they call you in order to disguise themselves. They typically change their number to one with a local area code to make you think the call is legitimate.

Once you answer the spoof call, the scammers use all the familiar tricks in the book. They might pretend to be your bank or a large company like Amazon and try to get you to reveal your personal information. They may claim to be the IRS and inform you that your taxes are overdue and you owe money. Whatever the tactic may be, the scammer wants to get you to provide information or resources during the phone call that they can use to take advantage of you.

Email spoofing

One of the most common cyber attacks, email address spoofing is similar to phone spoofing in terms of methodology and intent. The only difference is that scammers reach out via email rather than via phone. Scammers disguise their email addresses to look like legitimate companies and message victims urgent emails.

These fake emails will typically request some sort of action by the victim. These include clicking attachments, entering user credentials, and providing sensitive information like SSNs or account numbers.

URL spoofing

URL spoofing, sometimes called website spoofing, is when spoofers create fake websites that look like legitimate websites. These can range from simple misspellings in the domain name (amaz0n.com) with a basic login page to full-fledged fake websites with logos and user interfaces.

As with phone and email spoofing, URL spoofing involves deception in order to steal your personal information. Oftentimes, it starts with email spoofing when an email includes a link to a fake website. Victims go to the website without realizing it's spoofed and enter their information or account numbers. If the website or URL is similar to the true site, victims may not even realize they've been scammed.

IP spoofing

While the first three techniques listed above rely on individual users, the rest of the techniques in this article are more sophisticated, focusing on the network itself.

IP address spoofing is when a spoofer sends messages using a falsified IP address to make it appear to the network as a legitimate, trusted source. With IP spoofing, the scammers do this by altering the packet headers sent from their system.

IP spoof attacks are particularly threatening because they are often used to perform a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack. These attacks can take over an entire computer network, which can have huge ramifications for businesses and organizations.

ARP spoofing

ARP stands for Address Resolution Protocol, which is a protocol that enables communications to go to a specific device connected to a network.

This type of spoofing occurs when a spoofer sends fake ARP messages over a LAN (local area network). Doing this masks the scammer's MAC address with a legitimate IP address of a device on the network.

Once the scammer is masked, they gain access to all data that is intended for that IP address. Because of its range, ARP spoofing is a huge threat to business and organization computer networks.

DNS spoofing

Domain name system (DNS) spoofing is a network attack where scammers alter DNS records with different IP addresses to redirect online traffic to fake websites. In this sense, DNS spoofing is similar to domain spoofing, just on a much larger scale. Rather than requiring a user to click a link that leads to a false website, all users intending to reach a real website from their browser will be brought to the fake site.

What's the difference between spoofing and phishing?

Both spoofing and phishing are cybersecurity threats that should be taken seriously. They can cause serious damage to a person's resources and reputation if successful. However, these two types of attacks are different from one another.

In a spoofing attack, hackers attempt to disguise themselves as a legitimate source or person in order to gain the victim's trust. Once they have the person's trust, they can target victims with specific, personal attacks that convince them to give information or financial assistance.

Phishing attacks, on the other hand, are more broad. In these types of attacks, a hacker will send a message to multiple people or parties at once, hoping that someone will fall for the message and provide useful data. The purpose of phishing is to steal information, whereas the purpose of spoofing is to impersonate another individual online in order to perpetuate a scam.

How to protect yourself from spoofing attacks

Though all spoofing attacks have detrimental impact, the attacks themselves are different. Depending on the type of attack, there are steps you can take protect yourself.

How to prevent email attacks

Utilizing tools within your email client, along with practicing caution, can help you protect yourself from spoofed email messages.

• Use a spam filter. If your email service has a spam filter, employ it. As spam emails , unencrypted emails, or email spoofing attacks come into your inbox, flag them so that that your email client marks that address as spam moving forward. Future messages from that sender will go straight to your spam inbox.
• Think before you click. Before you click any links or open any attachments in an email, inspect the email header information to make sure it's coming from a legitimate source. If anything feels off, call the person or the organization to make sure the communication is legitimate.
• Use a throwaway email address. When you provide your email to websites for promotions or other informal things, use an alternate email address. Use free email clients to create an email address specifically for junk email purposes. This way, your main email won't be flooded with spam and other unimportant messages.

How to prevent phone number attacks

These days, most phone carriers have some level of service that automatically blocks or warns you of spam calls. However, even with those services, some spam calls get through.

With spam calls, the best course of action is to not answer the phone altogether. If you receive a call from a number that's not in your contacts, it's safest to simply not pick up. If it's important enough, the person will leave you a message to call back.

Additionally, if you do answer the phone, you may be flagged as a potential target to receive more spam calls since the caller knows the number is active. Ignoring these incoming calls is safest in this scenario.

How to prevent website attacks

To protect yourself from website spoofing, check the URL of the site you're visiting before you go. It doesn't matter what website you're seeking or link you're clicking; always check the URL. Sometimes spoofers hide malicious links behind hyperlink text.

To check the link, hover your mouse over the hyperlink to read the full URL. Make sure to check for misspellings and anything that is out of the ordinary. Furthermore, check for https:// in any URL you visit. This indicates the site has an up-to-date security certificate.

How to prevent network attacks

Various cybersecurity tools are helpful for defending against IP, DNS, and ARP attacks.

• Firewalls protect against many different cyberattacks by blocking traffic based on certain security rules.
• Packet filtering systems can detect inconsistencies with the packets on the network. They can also block malicious packets and packets with suspicious IP addresses.
• VPNs (virtual private networks) and encryption (such as HTTPS and SSH) can protect against ARP and DNS spoofing, as well as other cyber attacks.

There are many different kinds of spoofing attacks, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to avoid them. Use caution and common sense when online, and don't give your personal information out unless absolutely necessary.