spoofed

Spoofed is the past participle of spoof, meaning that something has been falsified or deceptively represented as something else. In computing and telecommunications, spoofing refers to the act of impersonating a trusted source by manipulating information that appears legitimate to the recipient. The goal is to mislead, gain unauthorized access, or cause reputational or financial harm.

Types of spoofing include IP spoofing, where the source IP address in a packet is forged to appear as if it originated from a different host; ARP spoofing, where Address Resolution Protocol replies associate a different MAC address with an IP on a local network; DNS spoofing, where responses are manipulated to redirect users to fraudulent sites; email spoofing, where the From or Reply-To fields are forged; caller ID spoofing, where telephone identifiers are falsified; and GPS spoofing, where counterfeit satellite signals misrepresent a device’s position.

Detection and prevention rely on authentication and network controls. Email defenses use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to validate sender domains; TLS and certificate validation protect service identities; DNSSEC protects DNS responses; ingress and egress filtering (BCP 38/84) reduce the spread of spoofed packets; anti-spoofing measures in GNSS programs aim to detect or mitigate false location data. Organizations may employ monitoring, anomaly detection, and incident response to identify spoofing attempts.

Spoofing can be legitimate in controlled security testing with authorization, but it is often illegal or unethical when used to deceive or harm. Legal regimes and organizational policies govern its use, and responsible disclosure is encouraged.