Disguising communication or identity to appear as a trusted source, including email, caller ID, or IP addresses.
Spoofing involves falsifying the origin of communications to appear trustworthy. Email spoofing forges sender addresses, caller ID spoofing displays fake phone numbers, IP spoofing falsifies source addresses, and DNS spoofing redirects domain lookups. Spoofing underlies many attacks—phishing emails with spoofed sender addresses, vishing calls showing legitimate numbers, and network attacks using spoofed IPs. Email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) combats email spoofing; other spoofing types require different controls.
Why It Matters
The DSC Perspective:
Spoofing enables attackers to impersonate trusted sources. Implementing DMARC for email protects your domain from being spoofed. Train users that caller ID and email addresses can be falsified.