The Dink Network

This morning I got online to check my mail before going to school. No new messages, but I did have a 'bulk message.' That's pretty much Yahoo's spam folder I think.

Well, just because I was bored, I opened the folder and examined the subject/sender. The subject was "February 70% off" or something of the like. Ok, that's normal. Everyone's used to alittle spam right? But the sender.. It was my own email adress. Talk about scary.

I know for a fact that I did not send it, and nobody else knows my password because I've recently changed it withing the last few months.

Is someone hacking onto my email or do they have some way to externally send email from my email or what. Either way, it's scary. I'm planning on changing my password again, but will that really help?

That's just spam - you shouldn't worry that it uses your own e-mail address, it's very easy to fake that. This has to do with the way the e-mail protocol works, it's easy to make it look like it comes from someone else (or yourself).

THAT'S just plain "creepy"!
I don't have an answer for you, but:
can you get your hands on a gun?
It's kill, or be killed! Email is
supposed to be "private", everyone
deserves that right!
If you can backtrack your way to the
beginning, maybe you can figure it
out; GIVE 'EM HELL!

As Simeon pointed out, sending email posing as somebody else is extremely simple. I can even send mail using my very own computer as the mail server, on which I can pose as anybody for any reason I see fit. This is what spammers do. It's due to the fact that the email protocol was never originally intended for world-wide use, just for local networks, and thus spoofing of addresses never seemed a problem. All of a sudden, everybody started using it, and it never had a chance to be updated to be safe against these "attacks".

There are ways to overcome this issue, however, it requires the use of external technology. Myself, I use OpenPGP to electronically sign my mail when I send it (Using Thunderbird+Enigmail) so that anybody who gets mail from me can VERIFY that I was indeed the originator. I also make a point of this in my email signature, so people are aware of it.

If you're interested, you can read about it here.

I like to make believe that private persons who show enough interest to learning about e-mail protocols to learn how to send e-mail impersonating others are somehow smart enough to not do so. Because of this, in my imagination all mail that comes from my address that isn't sent by me is spam, looks like spam, and can be mistaken for nothing but spam.

It was a scary moment to realise someone could really fake an e-mail to really look like you sent it and meant it. But I stand firm in my belief that nobody would really do so.

Well, it is true that you would need to have quite a bit of technical insight to pull it off properly, and so the common Joe or Jane wouldn't be able to do this, but there are scenarios where posing as somebody seriously could be harmful. For example, say you have a coworker who is extremely jealous at you for some reason. They could investigate into this matter, spoof a mail by you to your boss, a mail that would be sure to get you fired, and with nothing else than your own word of mouth to deny the authenticity of your mail, your boss may choose to believe your denial of the mail are just you having second thoughts, an act which may not be enough to save you your job...

I was also surprised not long ago by a more-clever-than-usual spam. It was apparently from a chap with the last name "Valoveer" who claimed to be my long-lost relative.

Of course, it didn't fool me. EVERYBODY knows there's only ONE Valoveer (try Googling it - it's all me). Which is actually not always ideal - anybody who knows my username can now see EXACTLY what I've been doing on the interweb and I can't blame it on anyone else *sigh*

Tell me how to send someone an email from their own address! That would be awesome. You see, there's this girl at school who discovered I'm a 'Child-Geek/Nerd' and if I can send her an email from her own address, leave it for a week, and tell her it was me, I would love to see her expression!! Tell me!!

Please?

I believe that would go against TDN rules? It's as Phoenix said, it can be a dangerous thing to do.

You know it's just as likely that she does what most people do when they see new mail from their own address... delete it as spam.

It shouldn't be too difficult for a Geek/Nerd

Hint: SMTP + programming

an email isnt just the text you see and/or html you input into the message. as simeon said, there is smtp. emails have a lot of 'junk' at the begging about whom the mail was from, the server they used, the time it was sent/recieved etc. so if someone could edit that smtp stuff at the beggining of an email i salute you (if you dont know what i mean go into outlook express and open up the emails's properties menu by right clicking. then click view message scource or something. dont know about other mail apps)

Outlook Express works fine for me.

But it like, kinda sucks.

FFS I HAVE A SPAM PROGRAM... NOT TELLIN U WHAT ITS CALLED COS' I DON'T TRUST NO1
SO HAHA...
ILL SEND YOU ALL YOUR OWN EMAILS!!
MUHUHAHAHAHHA

so... i'm sure someone here can figure out how to do it. we already know how it works (kinda)

Please don't post in ALL CAPS. It's not easy on the eye and it doesn't mean people will listen (figuratively speaking) to you any more than they would normally.