Widely known tricks used to forge common headers consist of the following except:

Question

Options

• ABogus common headers
• BAdding bogus "Received:" headers
• CChanging the SMTP id
• DUsing open relay sites

• A
  9% (4)
• B
  2% (1)
• C
  79% (37)
• D
  11% (5)

Explanation

Changing the SMTP ID (option C) is the exception because it is not a widely recognized or documented method for forging common email headers - the SMTP session ID is an internal server-level identifier used during mail transfer, not a user-visible header that attackers typically manipulate to deceive recipients or bypass filters.

Options A, B, and D are all legitimate forgery techniques: inserting bogus common headers (A) means fabricating fields like From: or Reply-To: to impersonate a trusted sender; adding fake Received: headers (B) is a classic trick to obscure the true routing path of an email and make it appear to originate from a legitimate server; and using open relay sites (D) exploits misconfigured SMTP servers that forward mail for anyone, hiding the attacker's true origin.

Memory tip: Think of the three real tricks as "Header, Hop, Hijack" - you can fake a header (A), fake a hop in the routing chain (B), or hijack an open relay to send through (D). Changing an SMTP session ID doesn't fit this pattern because it's a server-internal value, not something forgers manipulate in the message itself.

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