What Is A Spoofing Attack?
(And How To Prevent Them)

Learn how PurpleSec can help mitigate the latest cyber attacks and improve security ROI.

Authors: Jason Firch, MBA / Last updated: 11/19/22

Reviewed By: Michael Swanagan, CISSP, CISA, CISM

View Our: Editorial Process

Spoofing attacks are when a hacker impersonates another authorized or trusted source on a network to launch attacks. You can prevent spoofing network attacks by implementing spoofing detection software, enabling cryptographic network protocols such as Transport Layer Security (TLS), Secure Shell  (SSH), and HTTP Secure (HTTPS), avoiding trusted relationships with unknown entities, and implementing packet filtering.

What Is A Spoofing Attack?

A Spoofing attack is a means of falsifying any individual’s identity to gain unauthorized access.

As a result, attackers will cause internet activity to be rerouted and overburdened or redirected acquiring system access, data theft, and malware injection.

An advanced spoofing attack can steal your IP address, Domain System (DNS), Media Access Control Address (MAC), and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) while disguising itself as an authorized identity.

However, spoofing attacks are also prevalent through text message spoofing, email spoofing, URL spoofing, Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks, and caller ID spoofing.

Once initiated, spoofing attacks are difficult to spot and mitigate because they pay on deception and human error.

Why Are There So Many Spoofing Attacks?

Often, Spoofing is used for several malicious activities.

For example, an email posing as your CEO or coworker, asking you to resolve a work-related issue, prompting you to click on any link provided.

This link can lead you to disclose personal or financial information, send money, and download malware, which can lead to identity theft, fraud, and device damage.

At large, spoofing can cause data breaches and extreme financial burdens to an organization that is capable of completely crippling an infrastructure.

98% of cyber attacks contain one or more elements of social engineering like spoofing.

Example Of A Spoofing Attack

From 2013-2015 a Lithuanian man pretended to be an organization’s trusted vendor in Google and Facebook company supply chains.

The attacker spoofed business emails and created replica invoices of a Taiwanese technology manufacturer by the name of Quanta, then collected money transfers from these tech giants.

This Taiwanese company is known for building servers and other components for Google and Facebook so spotting the fraud was unachievable before being fleeced for over $120 million total.

This example of spoofing cost Facebook approximately $100 million and Google $23 million before catching on to the attack.

Evaldas Rimasauskas, a Lithuanian citizen, was only traced halfway across the globe due to the digital footprint he left behind.

Evaldas Rimasauskas was sentenced to five years in prison and reprimanded to pay over $90 million.

How Do You Prevent A Spoofing Attacks?

A few security actions you can take to prevent a spoofing attack include:

• Packet filtering.
• Avoiding trusted relationships with unknown entities.
• Deploying spoofing detection software.
• Enabling cryptographic network protocols, such as Transport Layer Security (TLS), Secure Shell (SSH), and HTTP Secure (HTTPS).
• Implementing security awareness training

Developing and enforcing a strong network monitoring policy is also essential for preventing spoofing attacks.

Spoofing comes in several forms and it’s best to be educated on all the various forms so that you instill a strong policy around each vulnerability.

Avoid clicking on links or opening attachments from unfamiliar sources and always verify the sender on sensitive information, set up multi-factor authentication, routinely keep software and policy up to date, use strong passwords, and do not answer unrecognized emails or calls.

In addition, don’t give out your personal information, and look out for websites, emails, or messages with poor grammar or spelling.

Next, we recommended implementing a robust anti-virus infrastructure solution that can detect and mitigate attacks before security personnel can.

Use firewalls to block any suspicious application trying to send you messages from an unknown network location.

Related Article

• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
• Buffer Overflow Attacks
• Ping Attacks
• SYN Flood
• DNS Amplification