Online identity spoofing is when someone else impersonates either you or your computer. Professional scammers have been known to impersonate famous actors, musicians, and athletes as well as other important political and corporate figures. For example, in 2010, Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble had two Facebook accounts opened in his name by cybercriminals. They then used the profiles to contact various police departments to elicit sensitive information about police investigations.
IP Address Spoofing
Spoofing an IP address involves changing the header of an Internet protocol address (that allows servers to know where information is coming from) to match someone else’s IP. If your IP address is spoofed, this may cause you to be associated with illegal activities like hacking websites, and may also provide a hacker with access to systems that read your computer as “trusted.”
Security Tips
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It is difficult to fully guard against identity spoofing, as services such as Facebook and Twitter allow anyone to set up an account in any name. To report a spoofed Facebook page, you need to first have a Facebook account: then go to the spoofed profile, click the button next to “Message” and select “Report/Block.” Then click “This profile/timeline is pretending to be someone or is fake” and then “Pretending to be me” and finally “Continue.” If you have been spoofed on Twitter, file a report at this address: https://support.twitter.com/forms/impersonation.
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To avoid having your own Facebook or Twitter account hacked into, never share your password with anyone and make sure to sign out of each service before you close the tab or window.
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Your IP address is most at risk when you are using public Internet hotspots at places such as airports or coffee shops. When using these, it is a good idea to use an IP anonymizer such as Hotspot Shield (http://www.hotspotshield.com/) which temporarily assigns you a random IP address so that your computer’s own IP address is not compromised.
