Which of the following is the practice of sending unwanted e-mail messages, frequently with commercial content, in large quantities to an indiscriminate set of recipients? Each correct answer represents a complete solution. Choose all that apply.
- Email spoofing
- Junk mail
- E-mail spam
- Email jamming
Answer(s): B,C
Explanation:
E-mail spam, also known as unsolicited bulk email (UBE), junk mail, or unsolicited commercial email (UCE), is the practice of sending unwanted e-mail messages, frequently with commercial content, in large quantities to an indiscriminate set of recipients.
Answer option A is incorrect. Email spoofing is a fraudulent email activity in which the sender address and other parts of the email header are altered to appear as though the email originated from a different source. Email spoofing is a technique commonly used in spam and phishing emails to hide the origin of the email message.
By changing certain properties of the email, such as the From, Return-Path and Reply-To fields (which can be found in the message header), ill-intentioned users can make the email appear to be from someone other than the actual sender. The result is that, although the email appears to come from the address indicated in the From field (found in the email headers), it actually comes from another source.
Answer option D is incorrect. Email jamming is the use of sensitive words in e-mails to jam the authorities that listen in on them by providing a form of a red herring and an intentional annoyance. In this attack, an attacker deliberately includes "sensitive" words and phrases in otherwise innocuous emails to ensure that these are picked up by the monitoring systems. As a result, the senders of these emails will eventually be added to a "harmless" list and their emails will be no longer intercepted, hence it will allow them to regain some privacy.