Email Spoofing: No Pot of Gold at the End of This Rainbow

Email spoofing is a mischievous trick that would make even leprechauns blush — hackers send emails disguised to look like they’re from trusted sources. Much like how leprechauns disguise themselves to protect their gold, these tricksters disguise their identity to gain your trust. People are more likely to open emails they believe come from someone they know, making this tactic as popular in phishing campaigns as green beer on St. Patrick’s Day!

“Brown Clover”, © 2025 Eina Schroeder

Why Email Spoofing is No Lucky Charm

Though some spoofed emails can be spotted and deleted faster than you can say “top o’ the morning,” others can bring the kind of bad luck that makes a four-leaf clover useless. For example:

• A spoofed email might claim to be from your favorite shamrock shop, asking for sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers.
• Some might contain links that plant malware on your device quicker than Irish moss spreads.
• In business settings, these digital tricksters often impersonate executives requesting wire transfers or system access — a scheme more elaborate than the most complex Celtic knot.

According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group’s “Phishing Activity Trends Report: 4th Quarter, 2022,” the industries most often targeted by these digital leprechauns include finance, software as a service, social media providers, logistics and shipping, and payment services.

Besides phishing, these green-with-envy attackers use spoofed emails to:

• Hide their true identity like a leprechaun in a field of four-leaf clovers
• Bypass spam filters and blocklists — though users can fight back by blocklisting suspicious IPs faster than you can dance an Irish jig
• Pretend to be trusted colleagues to extract confidential information
• Pose as reliable organizations to steal sensitive data
• Commit identity theft faster than a rainbow disappears after rain
• Damage sender reputations more thoroughly than spilling Guinness on a white shirt
• Launch malware hidden in attachments like snakes hiding in Ireland’s grass
• Use man-in-the-middle attacks to seize data
• Gain access to sensitive information held by third-party vendors

“Tiny Leprechaun”, © 2025 Eina Schroeder

How Email Spoofing Can Turn Your Luck Sour

The harm from email spoofing covers more ground than the rolling hills of Ireland:

• Scams from false trust: Hackers pose as executives or vendors, leading to fraudulent payments and wire transfers that drain accounts faster than an Irish pub on St. Patrick’s Day.
• Data breaches: Employees misled into revealing credentials can inadvertently give hackers access to networks, where they can gather confidential information faster than collecting shamrocks.
• Reputational damage: Companies that fall victim to spoofing attacks can lose consumer trust quicker than a St. Patrick’s Day parade passes by.
• Blocklist avoidance: Spoofed emails can be crafted to avoid spam filters, remaining undetected like a leprechaun’s gold.

Email Spoofing vs. Phishing: Different Shades of Green

Cybercriminals often use spoofing as part of a phishing attack. Phishing obtains sensitive data by faking emails that appear to come from trusted sources that might reasonably ask for such information — trying to make victims click malicious links faster than you can say “Erin go bragh!”

Spoofing alters the email header to make it appear legitimate, while domain impersonation uses similar-but-not-identical addresses (like “customerservice@amaz0n.co” versus the legitimate “customerservice@amazon.com”).

“St Patrick’s Festival”, © 2025 Eina Schroeder

How These Digital Tricksters Work Their Mischief

Email spoofing requires nothing more magical than a working SMTP server and common email platform. Scammers can forge header fields like FROM, REPLY-TO, and RETURN-PATH addresses. When you receive the email, it seems more authentic than Irish stew from Dublin.

This trickery works because SMTP doesn’t authenticate addresses. Though protective protocols exist, their adoption has been slower than a three-legged race at a St. Patrick’s Day festival.

A typical attack might appear to be from a payment platform like Venmo, threatening account suspension unless you provide credentials — allowing the hacker to steal your pot of gold.

Spotting These Digital Leprechauns

If something feels as wrong as corned beef without cabbage, inspect the email source code to find the originating IP address. Look for these clues:

• SPF check failures: Many email platforms use Sender Policy Framework authentication. Messages classified as “soft fail” might indicate an illegitimate sender.
• Inconsistent email headers: Compare suspicious headers with legitimate ones from the same supposed sender.
• Requests for personal information: Be as suspicious as finding a snake in Ireland if an email asks for sensitive personal data.
• Recycled content: Many spoofed emails reuse text from previous scams. Google the content to see if it matches known phishing attempts.

“Lucky Charms”, © 2025 Eina Schroeder

9 Lucky Charms to Protect Against Email Spoofing

Use these techniques to keep digital mischief-makers from accessing your systems:

1. Deploy an email security gateway: Block suspicious emails like a bouncer at an exclusive Dublin pub.
2. Use antimalware software: Identify and block suspicious websites and detect spoofing attacks before they reach inboxes.
3. Use encryption to protect emails: An email signing certificate encrypts messages so only intended recipients can access them — like a secret password for your local Irish society.
4. Implement email security protocols: Use domain authentication through SMTP, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to add security layers stronger than a perfectly poured Guinness.
5. Use reverse IP lookups: Confirm sender authenticity by verifying the domain name associated with the IP address.
6. Train employees in cyber awareness: Educate staff about recognizing suspicious elements — knowledge more valuable than finding a four-leaf clover.
7. Watch for possible spoofed addresses: Be vigilant about unknown email addresses, verifying origins before responding — don’t be fooled by digital blarney!
8. Never give out personal information: Make it a policy never to share personal data via email, limiting the damage of spoofing attempts.
9. Avoid strange attachments or unfamiliar links: Examine every email element for red flags like misspellings or unfamiliar file extensions before clicking — don’t let curiosity lead you down a dangerous rainbow path.

I’m open to writing for your site, contributing a guest post, or being interviewed for your content. If you’d ever like to collaborate on anything at all, don’t hesitate to reach out, I’d love to hear from you! For the price of a cup of coffee 🍵, you too can help support cybersecurity education for all. Be a winner in the fight against scammers, show your support, and drop me a line letting me know your thoughts or ideas about future posts you’d like to see.