Email Attacks

• Email is easy to fake,
  • But much harder than it was 40 years ago.
  • Even if only 0.1% of 100,000 messages yield a result that is 100
  • So it is not going to stop.
• Estimates are as high as 86% of all email is spam.
• Why Spam?
  • Even if only a small percentages is effective ...
  • Advertising
  • Malicious Payload
  • Links to Malicious Web Pages
  • Scams and other forms of exploitation.
• Can SPAM be made illegal?
  • Numerous countries have tried.
  • But jurisdiction is a problem
    • Spammers just move outside of the area.
• Fake Addresses and other information
  • Again, while it is better, it is still possible to fake from and reply to addresses.
  • This is true with other information as well.
  • SMTP - Send Mail Transport Protocol was defined in another era
  • And even though it has been updated, it is based on trust.
• phishing
  • Email that tries to trick a user into sending private data or other tasks.
  • spear phishing - targeted phishing