Google SMTP relay service abused for sending phishing emails
By Bill Toulas, Bleeping Computer Phishing actors abuse Google's SMTP relay service to bypass email security products and successfully deliver malicious emails to targeted users. According to a report from email security firm Avanan, there has been a sudden uptick in threat actors abusing Google's SMTP relay service starting in April 2022. The company has detected at least 30,000 emails in the first two weeks of April being distributed through this method. Attack details Google offers an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) relay service that can be used by Gmail and Google Workspace users to route outgoing emails. Businesses use this service for various reasons, ranging from not having to manage an external mail server to using it for marketing emails, so their mail server does not get added to a block list. Avanan states that threat actors can utilize Google's SMTP relay service to spoof other Gmail tenants without being detected, as long as those domains do not have a DM...