MailSafi Glossary of Terms

Spoofing

With regards to email, spoofing is a broad term used to refer to the creation of email messages with forged sender addresses. Email spoofing is done with the intention of tricking the recipient into believing the email originated from someone other than the real source.

Because core email protocols do not have a built-in authentication method, it is not uncommon for spam and phishing emails to use spoofing to trick the recipient into trusting the origin of the message.

The ultimate goal of spoofing is to get the recipient to open the email and act on its contents. Some may be harmless and just result in junk mail. However, others are sent with intent to cause harm. They may be intended to trick the user into divulging personal information such as credit card numbers, addresses, passwords and so on. The spoofed email may also contain malware which when clicked will download and install itself on the recipients device.