Can Email Sender Be Spoofed? Understanding Email Spoofing and How to Prevent It
Yes, an email sender can be spoofed because traditional email protocols don’t verify that the “From” address truly matches the real sender, allowing attackers to forge or fake it. Although modern protections like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC can authenticate legitimate senders and block many forged messages, these measures only work when fully and correctly implemented on both sending and receiving servers. As a result, spoofed emails still occur, making it important for organizations to enforce strong email authentication and for users to stay alert to suspicious or unexpected messages, even when they appear to come from trusted contacts.
How Does Email Spoofing Work?
- Manipulation of Email Headers: Email headers contain metadata, including the sender, recipient, and routing information. Spoofers manipulate the “From” field to make it appear as though email originates from a trusted sender.
- SMTP Vulnerabilities: The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), which is the standard for sending emails, does not have built-in authentication, making it susceptible to spoofing attacks.
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