14.3 Email Security Problems

The ease of email forgery is not, by itself, a security problem. Remember that typewriters allow anyone to type another person’s name on a piece of paper. The problems arise when attackers exploit forgeries to defraud people or take advantage of open systems. In the world of email, there are four major security problems:

  1. Connection-based attacks: Incidents in which someone sniffs or intercepts another’s email session. We can prevent this type of technical attack.

  2. Spam: Unsolicited email, often—but not always—of a commercial nature. Spam often is used to distribute classic financial frauds.

  3. Phishing: Email that tries to trick the reader into disclosing confidential identification data.

  4. Email viruses: Email that ...

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