ON SPOOFERS _________

This is presented as true to the best recollection and is offered for guidance with NO warranty expressed or implied.
Your mileage may vary.
The InterNet was initially designed to be used easily, conveniently, and fluidly between HONORABLE peers. It was NOT designed to be used as it has grown to be used, but it's a bit late to start over. There are a lot of DIShonorable users who seem to obtain some satisfaction from pretending/disguising/spoofing and passing themselves off as being other people.

They can do this because of major flaws in the identification processes of the InterNet.

One kind of spoofing is tricking you to believe that the source of an E-Mail message is someone other than the real sender.

When you get an incoming email that looks like it came from
    "John Miller" < John.Miller@TrustedRelative.com >
it may actually have come from him or maybe it really came from
    "Shag Nasty" < Shag.Nasty@SkullDuggery.org >

In the latter case, the message may just simply mislead you regarding its content, or it may contain a harmful MALWARE.
For more about viruses, see at ...
   On_Viruses

If a message is sent out that looks like it came from you, but you did NOT
intend to send it, then likely there is some malware involved which may be ...
.- on your system and is simply using your addr-book
.- on the system of someone to whom you sent a message which contained
     several exposed addresses.
.- on the system of someone whose addr book contained yours and the several addresses;
       in this case there is absolutely NOTHING that you could do to prevent
        such a thing, other than to not use E-Mail at all.
.- already removed from any of the above places after it sent such info to its
        underground/lair/headquarters from which it continues to send msgs.
.- on the server system where your email is processed -- rather UNlikely.

SUGGESTIONS: To avoid viruses from spreading and wreaking such havoc ...
.- KEEP YOUR SECURITY SHIELDS UP.!
     For more about viruses, see at ...
        On_Viruses
.- always use the "Bcc:" option when sending messages, see more at ...
        On_E-Mail and "Bcc:"





For additional info and/or from a different perspective, see at ...
     Add'l Spoof Info




For further info, see at ...
     http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/business/0103/19techbud.html
     http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/email_spoofing.html
     http://www2.laca.org/documentation/technical/email_spoof.html
     http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.klez.h@mm.html
     http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/
      and give it the following search arguments
        spoof
        spoofing
        e-mail spoofing
      especially ...
        http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci840262,00.html


HIJACKING__

Another kind of spoofing is tricking you to believe that you are contacting one InterNet WebSite when actually you are contacting another; this is often known as Hijacking.
For example ... To verify the integrity of your account, please contact us at ... www.TrustWorthy.Com

Be On Guard ! !

On_Other_Stuff