Researchers at Guardio Labs discovered a vast campaign hijacking thousands of subdomains belonging to well-known brands (MSN, VMware, McAfee, The Economist, Cornell University, CBS, Marvel, eBay, etc.).

The attackers use these compromised subdomains to send millions of spammy and malicious emails daily, bypassing security measures by leveraging the trust associated with the hijacked brands.

Here’s how it works:

• Attackers hijack subdomains of established brands through various methods like complex DNS manipulation and exploiting abandoned domains.
• They manipulate the hijacked subdomains’ SPF records to make emails appear as if they originated from the legitimate brands.
• These emails often contain deceptive content like fake cloud storage warnings, phishing attempts, or misleading advertisements.

The campaign is alarming for several reasons:

• The scale: Over 8,000 domains have been compromised, and the number is growing.
• The potential harm: Millions of spam and malicious emails are being sent daily.