SMS Spoofing in times of the pandemic

Security in the digital environment has long been a focus for many companies. This is nothing new – cyber-attacks have been with us for a long time and we all know that they involve huge losses of money.

This became an even more important issue in 2020, the year of the pandemic, during which we have all been forced to spend more time connected to our computers or mobiles, both for remote working and for entertainment at home. It was predicted that cybersecurity was going to become more relevant, but little action was taken.

This circumstance has been exploited by malicious parties, and they have increased their activity and compromised more victims, attacking both companies and customers and gaining access to more data and private information than ever.

In this blog post we are going to deal with Spoofing, an increasingly serious problem with a growing negative impact on companies.

What is Spoofing?

This term is used to define a fraudulent act in which communication from an unknown source is disguised so it appears to come from a known source that the recipient trusts (spoofing), and is usually done with malicious intentions.

Spoofing can be carried out from multiple channels, networks or devices. For example:

• Web spoofing: attackers create a website that closely mimics the original website. They use this “fake” website to observe your behaviour and even steal your username and password if you register.

• E-mail or SMS Spoofing: the victim receives an e-mail or SMS from a known and trusted person or company (e.g. bank) requesting confidential user information (e.g. your account password), or is sent a link to a supposed promotion that in reality downloads a virus that, when clicked, steals personal data from your mobile or computer. When the intention of the spoofing is to extract confidential information, this type of spoofing is also known as phishing.

How to detect email spoofing

Anti-spam filters are a great help in stopping malicious emails, but there are always a few that will reach your inbox. You have to be alert, and ensure you do not click on any link from that email.

Here is an example to help you better detect a phishing attempt (the intention of this type of spoofing is to steal your Amazon login details).

The link that is included in this email appears to be correct, but once you click on the link you can see that the address has nothing to do with the origin of the email. It is very important to pay attention to the small details before clicking.

How to detect and avoid SMS spoofing

In the case of SMS spoofing, you can rely on third-party solutions that verify the sender of the SMS.

In this case LINK Mobility offers the Google Verified SMS solution, helping companies to gain the trust of their customers with verified SMS communications.

Here is an example of SMS spoofing in which the SMS appears to be correct, but the sender is an unverified long number:

GOOGLE VERIFIED SMS

This channel helps you create more reliable and secure communications by verifying the sender.

In the SMS message you can see the company logo and name along with the verification badge offered by Google, generating trust in the user.

If you want to send trusted messages, and avoid SMS Spoofing, visit our website: https://linkmobility.com/products/google-verified-sms/

Or contact us via email: [email protected] or by calling us on the following telephone number: +34 912 160 100

Because every communication matters, LINK Mobility.