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GPEN · Question #184

Peter, a malicious hacker, obtains e-mail addresses by harvesting them from postings, blogs, DNS listings, and Web pages. He then sends large number of unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) messages on

The correct answer is A. E-mail Spam. Harvesting email addresses from public sources and sending mass unsolicited commercial email to them is the definition of email spam.

Penetration Testing Foundations & Reconnaissance

Question

Peter, a malicious hacker, obtains e-mail addresses by harvesting them from postings, blogs, DNS listings, and Web pages. He then sends large number of unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) messages on these addresses. Which of the following e-mail crimes is Peter committing?

Options

  • AE-mail Spam
  • BE-mail Storm
  • CE-mail spoofing
  • DE-mail bombing

How the community answered

(26 responses)
  • A
    81% (21)
  • B
    4% (1)
  • C
    12% (3)
  • D
    4% (1)

Why each option

Harvesting email addresses from public sources and sending mass unsolicited commercial email to them is the definition of email spam.

AE-mail SpamCorrect

Email spam (also called UCE - Unsolicited Commercial Email) is characterized by two elements Peter demonstrates: collecting recipient addresses without consent via harvesting techniques (scraping blogs, DNS records, web pages), and then distributing bulk commercial messages to those addresses without the recipients' permission.

BE-mail Storm

An email storm is a network event caused by a cascade of automatic reply-all responses flooding an email system, not the deliberate sending of unsolicited bulk messages.

CE-mail spoofing

Email spoofing involves forging the sender's address in the email header to impersonate a trusted source, which is not described in Peter's actions.

DE-mail bombing

Email bombing targets a single specific recipient with a massive volume of messages to overwhelm their inbox, whereas Peter is distributing messages broadly across many harvested addresses.

Concept tested: Email spam definition and address harvesting techniques

Source: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business

Topics

#email spam#email harvesting#OSINT#UCE

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