What is Spoofing? Print

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Spoofing is when someone knows your email address, and sends out email from their own device/system to make it look like the email has been sent from your actual email address - meaning that they are forging your email address.

Anyone can find out your email address from anywhere where it is visible or has been used on the Internet, and additionally, your computer could be compromised with malware, which often uses email addresses found on your device as targets for email, but also can send out emails spoofing your address, so that these emails are more likely to be opened by the recipient and then the malware is then spread further.
 
It is important to note that "spoofing" alone is not necessarily a "compromise" of the actual email account, because only an email address is spoofed and so does not require any login details, whereas an account is compromise by overtaking the whole mail account, using that account's login details.  However, spoofing can occur when your actual computer or device is compromised with malware, as explained above, so anti viral scans should always be completed even for spoofing.

One way to help prevent spoofing is to set up an SPF record for your domain.  You can easily do this in Cpanel or ask our support team who will be happy to help put this in place for you.  Note that an SPF record is only a preventative, not a cure.

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