spoofing
SPOOF-ing
/ˈspuːfɪŋ/
The act of disguising a communication or identity so that it appears to come from a trusted, known source.
Involves forging technical identifiers (such as email addresses, IP addresses, caller IDs, or DNS records).
The story behind the word. The word 'spoof' was invented in the 1880s by British comedian Arthur Roberts for a trickery board game involving hoaxes. It later meant lighthearted theatrical parody. In the late 20th century, computer hackers re-appropriated 'spoofing' to describe tricking network protocols into accepting fake digital identity headers as real ones.
Word relationships
- impersonation: Impersonation is pretending to be a person, whereas spoofing usually refers to technical forgery of headers, addresses, or protocols.
- forgery: Forgery applies broadly to documents or signatures, whereas spoofing is specific to electronic signals and communications.
- verification: Confirming the true identity and origin of a signal or sender.
Commonly confused with
- phishing: Spoofing is the technical tactic of forging an identity (e.g. fake email address); phishing is the overall fraudulent email campaign aimed at stealing info.
Word family
- spoof (verb): To forge or mimic a network signal or identity.
- spoofer (noun): A person or system that executes spoofing.
Collocations
- IP spoofing
- email spoofing
- caller ID spoofing
- DNS spoofing
Example sentences
- "The attacker used IP spoofing to bypass the network's address-based security checks." Network Attacks
Memory hook
A SPOOF is a fake proof—faking headers to trick systems. Forging digital identities.
When not to use
Do not confuse with comical parody, which is the original theatrical meaning of 'spoof'.
Fun facts
- GPS spoofing involves sending fake satellite signals to trick navigation systems into calculating location miles away from where they actually are!
Related words
Explore more words
phishing, plagiarism, counterfeit, falsification, identity theft, cyberbullying
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