Email Spoofing to Attack Activists

"Arab-American activist Nawar Shora checked his e-mail one day and found scores of angry messages asking why he hated Americans and Jews," writes Anick Jesdanun. "The messages were responding to e-mails marked as coming from him. Only one big problem: he never sent the hate mail." Shora was the victim of a new form of harassment in which fake e-mail is sent using real addresses. "The tactic, known as e-mail spoofing, requires little technical know-how and no illegal computer break-ins. Yet it has caused a lot of trouble wasting time, damaging reputations and even leading to the suspension of e-mail accounts," Jesdanun writes. "Spoofing will only get worse as kids, pranksters and fired employees discover its ease. ... Little can be done to prevent it without completely reworking mail protocols."