In the context ofinformation security, and especiallynetwork security, aspoofing attack is a situation in which a person or program successfully identifies as another by falsifyingdata, to gain an illegitimate advantage.[1]
Many of the protocols in theTCP/IP suite do not provide mechanisms forauthenticating the source or destination of a message,[2] leaving them vulnerable to spoofing attacks when extra precautions are not taken by applications to verify the identity of the sending or receiving host. IP spoofing andARP spoofing in particular may be used to leverageman-in-the-middle attacks against hosts on acomputer network. Spoofing attacks which take advantage of TCP/IP suite protocols may be mitigated with the use offirewalls capable ofdeep packet inspection or by taking measures to verify the identity of the sender or recipient of a message.
The term 'Domain name spoofing' (or simply though less accurately, 'Domain spoofing') is used generically to describe one or more of a class ofphishing attacks that depend on falsifying or misrepresenting an internetdomain name.[3][4] These are designed to persuade unsuspecting users into visiting a web site other than that intended, or opening an email that is not in reality from the address shown (or apparently shown).[5] Although website and email spoofing attacks are more widely known, any service that relies ondomain name resolution may be compromised.
Some websites, especially pornographicpaysites, allow access to their materials only from certain approved (login-) pages. This is enforced by checking thereferrer header of theHTTP request. This referrer header, however, can be changed (known as "referrer spoofing" or "Ref-tar spoofing"), allowing users to gain unauthorized access to the materials.
"Spoofing" can also refer tocopyright holders placing distorted or unlistenable versions of works onfile-sharing networks.
The sender information shown ine-mails (theFrom: field) can be spoofed easily. This technique is commonly used byspammers to hide the origin of their e-mails and leads to problems such as misdirectedbounces (i.e. e-mail spambackscatter).
E-mail address spoofing is done in quite the same way as writing a forged return address usingsnail mail. As long as the letter fits the protocol, (i.e. stamp,postal code) theSimple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) will send the message. It can be done using a mail server withtelnet.[6]
Geolocation spoofing occurs when a user applies technologies to make their device appear to be located somewhere other than where it is actually located.[7] The most common geolocation spoofing is through the use of aVirtual Private Network (VPN) orDNS Proxy in order for the user to appear to be located in a different country, state or territory other than where they are actually located. According to a study byGlobalWebIndex, 49% of global VPN users utilize VPNs primarily to accessterritorially restricted entertainment content.[8] This type of geolocation spoofing is also referred to as geo-piracy, since the user is illicitly accessing copyrighted materials via geolocation spoofing technology. Another example of geolocation spoofing occurred when an online poker player in California used geolocation spoofing techniques to play online poker inNew Jersey, in contravention of bothCalifornia and New Jersey state law.[9] Forensic geolocation evidence proved the geolocation spoofing and the player forfeited more than $90,000 in winnings.
Public telephone networks often providecaller ID information, which includes the caller's number and sometimes the caller's name, with each call. However, some technologies (especially inVoice over IP (VoIP) networks) allow callers to forge caller ID information and present false names and numbers. Gateways between networks that allow such spoofing and other public networks then forward that false information. Since spoofed calls can originate from other countries, the laws in the receiver's country may not apply to the caller. This limits laws' effectiveness against the use of spoofed caller ID information to further ascam.[10][failed verification]
Aglobal navigation satellite system (GNSS) spoofing attack attempts to deceive a GNSS receiver by broadcasting fake GNSS signals, structured to resemble a set of normal GNSS signals, or by rebroadcasting genuine signals captured elsewhere or at a different time.[11] Spoofing attacks are generally harder to detect as adversaries generate counterfeit signals. These spoofed signals are challenging to recognize from legitimate signals, thus confusing ships' calculation of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT).[12] This means that spoofed signals may be modified in such a way as to cause the receiver to estimate its position to be somewhere other than where it actually is, or to be located where it is but at a different time, as determined by the attacker. One common form of a GNSS spoofing attack, commonly termed a carry-off attack, begins by broadcasting signals synchronized with the genuine signals observed by the target receiver. The power of the counterfeit signals is then gradually increased and drawn away from the genuine signals.[11]
Even though GNSS is one of the most relied upon navigational systems, it has demonstrated critical vulnerabilities towards spoofing attacks. GNSS satellite signals have been shown to be vulnerable due to the signals’ being relatively weak on Earth’s surface.[13] A reliance on GNSS could result in the loss of life, environmental contamination, navigation accidents, and financial costs.[14][15][16] However, since 80% of global trade is moved through shipping companies, relying upon GNSS systems for navigation remains unavoidable.[17][18]
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All GNSS systems, such as the US GPS, Russia'sGLONASS, China'sBeiDou, and Europe'sGalileo constellation, are vulnerable to this technique.[19] In order to mitigate some of the vulnerabilities the GNSS systems face concerning spoofing attacks, the use of more than one navigational system at once is recommended.[20]
The December 2011capture of a Lockheed RQ-170 Sentinel drone aircraft in northeasternIran may have been the result of such an attack.[21] GNSS spoofing attacks had been predicted and discussed in the GNSS community as early as 2003.[22][23][24] A "proof-of-concept" attack was successfully performed in June 2013, when the luxury yachtWhite Rose of Drachs was misdirected with spoofedGPS signals by a group of aerospace engineering students from the Cockrell School of Engineering at theUniversity of Texas in Austin. The students were aboard the yacht, allowing their spoofing equipment to gradually overpower the signal strengths of the actual GPS constellation satellites, altering the course of the yacht.[25][26][27]
In 2019, the British oil tankerStena Impero was the target of a spoofing attack that directed the ship into Iranian waters where it was seized by Iranian forces. Consequently, the vessel including its crew and cargo were used as pawns in a geopolitical conflict. Several shipping companies with vessels navigating around Iranian waters are instructing vessels to transit dangerous areas with high speed and during daylight.[28]
On October 15, 2023,Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that GPS had been “restricted in active combat zones in accordance with various operational needs,” but has not publicly commented on more advanced interference. In April 2024, however, researchers atUniversity of Texas at Austin detected false signals and traced their origin to a particular air base in Israel run by the IDF.[29]
In June 2017, approximately twenty ships in theBlack Sea complained of GPS anomalies, showing vessels to be transpositioned miles from their actual location, in what Professor Todd Humphreys believed was most likely a spoofing attack.[27][30] GPS anomalies aroundPutin's Palace and theMoscow Kremlin, demonstrated in 2017 by a Norwegian journalist on air, have led researchers to believe that Russian authorities use GPS spoofing whereverVladimir Putin is located.[27][31]
The mobile systems namedBorisoglebsk-2,Krasukha andZhitel are reported to be able to spoof GPS.[32]
Incidents involving Russian GPS spoofing include during a November 2018 NATO exercise in Finland that led to ship collision (unconfirmed by authorities).[33] and a 2019 incident of spoofing from Syria by the Russian military that affected the civil airport inTel Aviv.[34][35]
In December of 2022 significant GPS interference in several Russian cities was reported by theGPSJam service; the interference was attributed to defensive measures taken by Russian authorities in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.[19]
Since the advent ofsoftware-defined radio (SDR), GPS simulator applications have been made available to the general public. This has made GPS spoofing much more accessible, meaning it can be performed at limited expense and with a modicum of technical knowledge.[36] Whether this technology applies to other GNSS systems remains to be demonstrated.
The Department of Homeland Security, in collaboration with the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) and the National Coordinating Center for Communications (NCC), released a paper which lists methods to prevent this type of spoofing. Some of the most important and most recommended to use are:[37]
These installation and operation strategies and development opportunities can significantly enhance the ability of GPS receivers and associated equipment to defend against a range of interference, jamming, and spoofing attacks.A system and receiver agnostic detection software offers applicability as cross-industry solution. Software implementation can be performed in different places within the system, depending on where the GNSS data is being used, for example as part of the device's firmware, operating system, or on the application level.[citation needed]
A method proposed by researchers from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at theUniversity of Maryland, College Park and the School of Optical and Electronic Information at Huazhong University of Science and Technology that aims to help mitigate the effects of GNSS spoofing attacks by using data from a vehicles controller area network (CAN) bus. The information would be compared to that of received GNSS data and compared in order to detect the occurrence of a spoofing attack and to reconstruct the driving path of the vehicle using that collected data. Properties such as the vehicles speed and steering angle would be amalgamated and regression modeled in order to achieve a minimum error in position of 6.25 meters.[39] Similarly, a method outlined by researchers in a 2016IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium conference paper discuss the idea of using cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) and vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications in order to achieve a similar goal. In this method, the communication abilities of both cars and radar measurements are used to compare against the supplied GNSS position of both cars to determine the distance between the two cars which is then compared to the radar measurements and checked to make sure they match. If the two lengths match within a threshold value, then no spoofing has occurred, but above this threshold, the user is notified so that s/he can take action.[40]
Information technology plays an increasingly large role in today's world, and different authentication methods are used for restricting access to informational resources, including voice biometrics. Examples of usingspeaker recognition systems include internet banking systems, customer identification during a call to a call center, as well as passive identification of a possible criminal using a preset "blacklist".[41]
Technologies related to the synthesis and modeling of speech are developing very quickly, allowing one to create voice recordings almost indistinguishable from real ones. Such services are calledText-to-Speech (TTS) orStyle transfer services. The first one aimed at creating a new person. The second one aimed at identifies as another in voice identification systems.
A large number of scientists are busy developing algorithms that would be able to distinguish the synthesized voice of the machine from the real one. On the other hand, these algorithms need to be thoroughly tested to make sure that the system really works.[42] However, an early study has shown that feature design and masking augmentation have a significant impact on the ability to detect spoofed voice.[43]
Facial recognition technology is widely employed in various areas, including immigration checks and phone security, as well as on popular platforms likeAirbnb andUber to verify individuals' identities. However, the increased usage has rendered the system more susceptible to attacks, given the widespread integration of facial recognition systems in society. Some online sources and tutorials detail methods for tricking facial recognition systems through practices known as face spoofing or presentation attacks, which can pose risks in terms of unauthorized access. To mitigate these dangers, measures such asliveness checks (verifying blinking),deep learning, and specialized cameras like 3D cameras have been introduced to prevent facial recognition spoofing. It is important to implement comprehensive security procedures like these to protect against face spoofing attempts and uphold the overall security and integrity of systems relying on facial recognition authentication.[44]
An apparent mass and blatant, GPS spoofing attack involving over 20 vessels in the Black Sea last month has navigation experts and maritime executives scratching their heads.