Darktrace researchers detailed "spam bombing," a technique in which threat actors bombard targets with spam emails as a pretense for activity like social engineering campaigns.
April 10, 2025 By Alexander Culafi
Threat actors are using a technique known as "spam bombing" to overload victims' email inboxes and provide cover for more harmful activity.
In research published today by security vendor Darktrace, analysts Maria Geronikolou and Cameron Boyd detailed an example of the technique where the threat actor used a legitimate email campaign product to swarm a victim with spam emails and then attempted to phish them under the guise of a "helpful" IT staffer.
The attack is both an example of how threat actors use legitimate products for malicious activities and of how attackers are innovating in the social engineering space.