Summary
Spammers employ diverse tactics to acquire content for spam, ranging from technical exploits to social engineering. They scrape websites, social media, and newsletters using bots and web crawlers. They steal data through breaches, phishing, malware, and compromised accounts, gaining access to email lists, personal information, and email content. They also exploit vulnerabilities in APIs and use methods like BCC manipulation, session hijacking, and cross-site scripting. Address harvesting and recycling old content from legitimate campaigns are also common. This stolen or scraped content is then used to personalize spam, mimic legitimate communications, and bypass spam filters.
Key findings
- Content Scraping: Automated tools scrape websites, social media, and newsletters.
- Data Breaches and Compromise: Breaches, phishing, malware, and account compromise provide access to sensitive data.
- Technical Exploits: Spammers exploit API vulnerabilities, BCC functionality, and other technical weaknesses.
- Address Harvesting: Email addresses are harvested from various online sources.
- Content Recycling: Legitimate marketing content is repurposed for spam campaigns.
Key considerations
- Content Protection: Implement measures to prevent content scraping on websites and social media.
- Data Security: Strengthen data security to prevent breaches and protect user information.
- Account Security: Promote strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and awareness of phishing scams.
- API Security: Secure APIs and implement robust input validation.
- Email Security: Monitor email headers for BCC manipulation and unusual patterns.
- Privacy settings: Review and adjust social media privacy settings to limit the amount of personal information publicly available.
What email marketers say
9 marketer opinions
Spammers employ various methods to obtain content for their spam emails, including scraping websites and social media, purchasing outdated email lists, exploiting data breaches, and recycling content from legitimate email marketing campaigns. They also use techniques like hidden images, tracking pixels, and web crawlers to gather information and tailor their spam messages.
Key opinions
- Content Scraping: Spammers actively scrape content from websites, social media platforms, and legitimate email marketing campaigns using automated bots and web crawlers.
- Data Breaches & Lists: Spammers exploit data breaches and purchase old email lists to acquire email addresses and associated information for spam campaigns.
- Newsletter Infiltration: Spammers use bots to sign up for newsletters and promotional emails, then scrape the content for use in their spam.
- Hidden Tactics: Spammers use hidden images and tracking pixels to identify active email addresses and scrape content from rendered emails.
Key considerations
- Content Protection: Businesses should implement measures to protect their website content from being scraped by bots and web crawlers.
- Data Security: Organizations must prioritize data security to prevent data breaches and protect customer information from being exploited by spammers.
- Email Monitoring: Email marketers should monitor their campaigns for signs of content being reused in spam emails.
- List Hygiene: Regularly clean and update email lists to remove inactive or compromised addresses and avoid falling victim to spammers.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Warrior Forum explains that spammers utilize web crawlers to index and copy content from websites, which is then repurposed and used in spam emails.
2 Nov 2024 - Warrior Forum
Marketer view
Email marketer from Reddit explains that spammers often recycle old content from legitimate email marketing campaigns by scraping the content and resending it.
29 Sep 2022 - Reddit
What the experts say
4 expert opinions
Spammers employ various techniques to obtain content for their malicious emails. These include exploiting BCC functionality, scraping social media profiles for personal data, and compromising legitimate email accounts through phishing, malware, or data breaches. They then use this stolen or scraped content to craft targeted spam messages, often mimicking legitimate communications or personalizing the spam to increase its effectiveness.
Key opinions
- BCC Exploitation: Spammers abuse the BCC functionality to send mass emails while using deceptive To: headers.
- Social Media Scraping: Spammers scrape social media for names, interests, and photos to personalize spam.
- Account Compromise: Phishing, malware, and data breaches allow spammers access to legitimate email accounts, enabling content theft.
- Content Personalization: Spammers personalize messages to bypass spam filters and increase recipient deception.
Key considerations
- Email Header Analysis: Carefully examine email headers to identify potential BCC exploitation or forged sender information.
- Privacy Settings: Review and adjust social media privacy settings to limit the amount of personal information publicly available.
- Security Awareness: Educate users about phishing scams and the importance of strong passwords and security software to prevent account compromise.
- Data Breach Monitoring: Stay informed about data breaches and take necessary precautions if your accounts are affected.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks explains that spammers use BCC functionality by connecting to systems and putting addresses in the RCPT TO during the transaction, but use a random address in the To: header when sending DATA.
8 Sep 2021 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource shares that spammers gain access to legitimate email accounts through phishing scams, malware, or data breaches. Once inside, they can extract content from past emails, contact lists, and documents to craft personalized spam messages that are more likely to bypass spam filters and deceive recipients.
20 Jan 2023 - Spam Resource
What the documentation says
5 technical articles
Spammers employ a range of technical methods to acquire content for spam campaigns. They utilize botnets to infiltrate networks and steal proprietary content, leverage phishing to obtain user credentials and access accounts, and employ address harvesting techniques to gather email addresses. Additionally, spammers exploit API vulnerabilities and use methods such as session hijacking and cross-site scripting (XSS) to compromise user accounts and extract content from online services.
Key findings
- Botnet Infiltration: Spammers use botnets to infiltrate networks and steal content.
- Phishing Attacks: Phishing is used to steal credentials, allowing access to accounts and content.
- Address Harvesting: Automated programs scan the web for email addresses to target.
- API Exploitation: API vulnerabilities are exploited to access and extract content.
- Account Compromise: Session hijacking and XSS are used to compromise user accounts.
Key considerations
- Botnet Mitigation: Implement botnet detection and mitigation strategies to protect networks.
- Phishing Awareness: Educate users about phishing techniques and how to identify suspicious emails.
- Address Obfuscation: Implement measures to obfuscate email addresses on websites and online sources.
- API Security: Secure APIs to prevent unauthorized access and data extraction.
- Session Management: Implement robust session management and input validation techniques to prevent session hijacking and XSS attacks.
Technical article
Documentation from Spamhaus answers that spammers leverage botnets (networks of compromised computers) to send spam, and that these botnets can also be used to infiltrate networks and steal proprietary content for spam campaigns.
23 Mar 2022 - Spamhaus
Technical article
Documentation from IETF shares that spammers employ address harvesting techniques, which involve using automated programs to scan web pages and other online sources for email addresses, which are then used to send spam.
21 May 2022 - IETF
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