What is SMS bombing?
SMS bombing, or message bombing, is a type of cyberattack that involves sending large numbers of SMS messages to one or many people in a short time. Attackers use SMS bombers, or message bombers — special tools or apps — to send dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of SMS messages that come to the victim rapidly and often make it impossible to use the phone.
SMS bombing attacks can be initiated for various reasons, ranging from pranks to revenge to intentionally disrupting a phone line. The consequences of SMS bombing can extend beyond just annoying the victims. The actions of SMS bombers can overload the communication infrastructure and result in service disruptions, leading to severe consequences due to inadequate security measures, particularly on registration pages, and the absence of secure API integrations.
What is the danger of an SMS bombing attack?
An SMS bombing attack can pose several serious risks. The most important of these are:
Financial losses
The attacker can flood the victim with many text messages, resulting in using the entire SMS bundle or exceeding data transmission limits. As a result, this can lead to unnecessary costs.
Phone blocking
An SMS bombing attack can block or suspend the victim’s phone. This makes it challenging to use the device and, in extreme situations, prevents it from functioning normally.
Theft of confidential data
The attacker may try to extort the victim’s personal or financial information, using SMS bombing to gain access to sensitive information.
Why do SMS bombing attacks occur?
Most often, SMS bombing attacks are carried out to disrupt telecommunications services or make it difficult for the number owner to use the phone.
One of the reasons why SMS bombing occurs is the desire to take revenge or harm a particular person or organization by disrupting its services. In this regard, SMS bombing attacks are similar to DDoS attacks due to hacktivist activities.
SMS bombers can be a tool for spammers to send unsolicited messages in bulk to many recipients. These messages can contain fraudulent or malicious content, such as phishing scams or malware links, which can compromise the security of the recipient’s device or personal information. Additionally, SMS bombing can be used to spread fake news or propaganda, leading to misinformation and confusion among the public.
Some cybercriminals also carry out SMS bombing attacks to test the security of telecommunications systems or to use the information obtained to carry out other attacks. In such cases, the SMS bombing attack is just one more complex criminal campaign element.
How to protect against SMS bombing attacks?
To protect against SMS bombing on the company-wide level, businesses can implement a number of measures. These include both direct countermeasures against spam attacks and general cybersecurity posture strengthening:
- Patch management. Regular checks and installation of new security patches for the software in use make the company more secure from different attacks.
- Vulnerability management. Regular infrastructure checks for vulnerabilities and timely updates will significantly reduce the risks of suffering SMS bombing.
- Spam filtering and email protection solutions. Using such solutions for email, SMS, and messaging applications, as well as regular updates, will enable you to resist attacks.
- Authentication levels. Security measures such as two-factor authentication and CAPTCHAs work effectively to block automated attacks.
- Data leak monitoring. Data leaked to the public or underground markets threaten serious consequences, among which SMS bombing is not the worst. Leak monitoring and adequate response will help businesses avoid many problems.
- Extended detection and response. This class of cybersecurity solutions monitors a company’s networks for signs of breaches and upcoming attacks and allows it to quickly mitigate security incidents, preventing many forms of cybersecurity attacks.
Does Group-IB provide SMS bombing protection solutions?
Group-IB endeavors to protect organizations and users worldwide against various cybercrimes and develops solutions and services serving this mission. Our Managed XDR is a versatile solution for discovering, preventing, and responding to cyber attacks on the company’s infrastructure. It provides complete visibility throughout the security infrastructure and catches threats that other solutions miss.
Threat detection and threat hunting capabilities included in the Group-IB Managed XDR enable businesses to spot security violations, such as data breaches, malware, and more, that could lead to SMS bombing and other types of attacks.
The incident response functionality of the solution allows you to stop adversaries in one click, trace their activities and infrastructure, and collect data for digital forensics analysis to permanently discourage threat actors from attacking your company.