Spoofing

 

Spoofing

Spoofing, as you have already read in a previous chapter, refers to the deception technique where a hacker imitates or pretends to be another person, organization, software, or a website. This comes with the intention of bypassing the target’s security protocols in order to gain access to the information that a hacker wants to get. Here are some of the most common spoofing techniques that hackers use:

1. IP Spoofing

This technique is done to mask the IP address of a computer that the hacker is using in order to fool a network into thinking that a legitimate user is communicating with a targeted computer. To do this, a hacker imitates another IP address or range to meet the IP address criteria set by a network administrator.

This spoof hacking technique works by finding an IP address that a trusted host uses. After doing so, you can modify the headers of packets in order to fool the network into believing that it is coming from an authorized user. This way, you can send harmful packets to a targeted network, without having them being traced back to you.

 2. DNS Spoofing

DNS spoofing works by using the IP address of a website in order to send someone into a malicious website where a hacker can easily harvest private information or user credentials. This man-in-themiddle attack allows you to communicate with an unsuspecting target into thinking that he has entered a website that he searched for, and then allow a hacker to freely receive account details that this user will be entering on a false website.

In order for this to work, the hacker needs to be on the same LAN as the target. In order to acquire access to that LAN, a hacker can simply search for a weak password on a machine that is connected to that network, which can even be done remotely. Once this is done successfully, a hacker can redirect users to go to a rigged website and monitor all activities that they will do there.

3. Email spoofing

Email spoofing is very useful when it comes to bypassing security services employed in an email service. This means that when an email address is spoofed, the email service will recognize any mail sent from a rigged account as legitimate and will not be diverted to the spam inbox. This technique allows a hacker to send emails with malicious attachments to a particular target.

4. Phone number spoofing 

Phone number spoofing typically uses false area codes or phone numbers in order to mask the location or identity of a hacker. This tactic allows hackers to successfully tap voicemail messages of their targets, send text messages using a spoofed number, or mislead a target from where a call is coming from – all these tactics are very effective when laying the groundwork for social engineering attacks. 

The damage of masquerading or spoofing attacks lies on the fact that they are not easily spotted by most network administrators. The worst part is that network administrators and the installed security protocols allow malicious users to interact with other users over the network and even manipulate, stop, or inject data stream into the targeted system. Because a hacker that is able to infiltrate the network can easily set up shop in one of the hosts or manipulated devices in the system, it becomes easy for him to conduct manin-the-middle attacks