Editing Message forgery

{{refimprove|date=April 2025}}
{{Short description|Message sent with a fake identity}}

In [[cryptography]], '''message forgery''' is sending a message so to deceive the recipient about the actual sender's identity. A common example is sending a [[e-mail spam|spam]] or prank e-mail as if it were originated from an [[Email spoofing|address other than the one which was really used]].

== Notable Incidents ==

=== 2014 Sony Pictures hack ===
{{Main article|2014 Sony Pictures hack}}
On November 2014, the multinational entertainment studio, [[Sony Pictures]], suffered a huge [[Data breach|data leak]]; over 100 terabytes of confidential company activities were exposed, resulting in well over $100 million lost. 

One of the causes of the hack was through the use of message forgery. The [[Lazarus Group|phishers]] gained entry by manipulating the recipient to open the malicious attachments contained in the emails that were posing as colleagues of the top-level employees within the company.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Famous Phishing Incidents from History {{!}} Hempstead Town, NY |url=https://www.hempsteadny.gov/635/Famous-Phishing-Incidents-from-History |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=www.hempsteadny.gov}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Phishing]]
* [[Message authentication code]]
* [[Stream cipher attack]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{crypto-stub}}

[[Category:Cryptographic attacks]]
[[Category:Practical jokes]]