What is an e-mail bomb?

An email ‘bomb’ refers to an immense number of email messages sent to an account in an effort to bring the account down.

When an email server is flooded with email messages, it is unable to devote cycles to other email users and effectively become useless. An account that receives an email bomb will also experience an interruption in the transfer and processing of legitimate mail, as well.

Email bombs are particularly problematic because even if an email server is brought down in an attempt to stave off the problem, the email server will resume where it left off when it is restarted, continuing to deliver the messages that constitute the bomb.

Hackers can send email bombs using tools that are not too difficult to obtain. Another type of bombing occurs when a user signs someone up to multiple newsletter services and other automatic email generation services that can bring a person’s inbox to its knees.

The good news is that most individual users rarely have trouble with email bombs.

The bad news is that the only way to recover from en email bomb is probably to contact your internet service provider to obtain help. It may be necessary for you to disable or change your email address, at least temporarily.