How does email bombing happen?

Email bombing, also known as mail bombing, occurs when an attacker sends a massive volume of emails to a single email address or server in a short period. This flood of messages can overwhelm the recipient's inbox, consume storage space, or even crash the email server, disrupting normal communication.

How it happens:

1. Automated Tools: Attackers use scripts or bots to send thousands or millions of emails rapidly.
2. Spoofed Addresses: The emails may appear to come from legitimate sources by forging sender addresses.
3. Open Relays: Exploiting poorly configured mail servers that forward emails without authentication.

Example:
A disgruntled user targets a company's customer support email with 100,000 spam messages, filling the inbox and preventing legitimate inquiries from being received.

Mitigation with Tencent Cloud:
Tencent Cloud offers Anti-Spam and Email Security Services to detect and block email bombing attempts. Features include:

• Real-time traffic monitoring to identify abnormal email patterns.
• Email filtering to block spoofed or malicious emails.
• DDoS protection for email servers to maintain service availability.

Using Tencent Cloud's Email Security Solution helps safeguard against such attacks while ensuring reliable email delivery.