What are the best practices for handling a list bombing attack and account compromise?

Marketer from Email Geeks shares to reach out to the various ESPs, explain you are being added malicious to accounts/lists and ask for a purge from subscriptions for the last X timeframe.

Email marketer from Reddit explains to report the incident to relevant authorities, such as the FTC or local law enforcement, especially if identity theft or financial fraud has occurred.

Marketer from Email Geeks advises against resetting passwords unnecessarily in the middle of a potential attack which will likely include password reset confirmation type messages.

Marketer from Email Geeks shares that the attack won't last forever (fortunately): the attackers are paying for a service to bomb you, and this service costs them money. So this is not an endless tunnel.

Email marketer from Have I Been Pwned recommends using the Have I Been Pwned website to check if your email address or phone number has been involved in any known data breaches.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests working with your bank’s identity protection services or a 3rd party to find the best long term solution to protect you from liability.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests that list bombing often happens in order to mask something else, so check for mail from your bank or other providers for notifications that your login or other details have been updated.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests spreading things out using various groups for siloed apps, i.e. banking@ is for bank, etc. or use tagged aliases, you use gmail. So you can could something like <mailto:francisbaker+BRANDHERE@gmail.com|francisbaker+BRANDHERE@gmail.com>. This way if it happens again they _might_ spam that alias so you could filter that specifically away.

Email marketer from Lifehacker shares that enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) on all accounts that offer it adds an extra layer of security, making it more difficult for attackers to gain access even if they have your password.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests that if you enable tabs on your gmail to include updates and promotions it might be easier to scroll and scan what's important. All of my banking and really important stuff ends up in updates or inbox. so once you do the keyword searches as <@U2UGZ5V33> said then after you can do a more manual search. It will also be easier when you want to delete all this crap you can just delete all the stuff in your promotions tab.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests changing the password of your email account, and look for emails from your bank or other money-related accounts you may have.

Marketer from Email Geeks advises not to call any phone numbers in the message that told you about the charge and to instead look up the number from their website.

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that the user has been a target of list bombing and should keep a close eye on personal accounts as this is a common tactic to flood inbox while they try to take over an account.

Email marketer from Experian shares that setting up fraud alerts with credit bureaus, this requires creditors to take steps to verify your identity before issuing credit in your name.

Email marketer from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse explains that reviewing the privacy settings on your online accounts and adjusting them to be more restrictive can help limit the amount of personal information available to potential attackers.

Marketer from Email Geeks shares that if you are under attack, the objective is going to be to con you into doing something, most likely authenticating yourself to (what looks like) a financial institution or provider you use. That will allow them to steal from you. They will use your adrenaline against you as that can short circuit critical thinking. Best advice is don't make any changes to anything for next 24 hours.

Marketer from Email Geeks shares that it may not be malicious, in that, you may not be the target. If you are the target the idea is to flood your mailbox with clutter so you don't notice the "Your account credentials have been changed" type message from your bank.

Email marketer from Troy Hunt's Blog shares that the initial step is to understand the scope of the breach by identifying which accounts used the compromised password. He further recommends focusing on high-value accounts first, such as banking and email accounts.

Email marketer from Consumer Reports suggests opting out of data broker sites, which collect and sell your personal information, to reduce your online exposure.

Email marketer from Krebs on Security recommends placing a credit freeze with all three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) to prevent unauthorized accounts from being opened in your name.

Email marketer from Norton advises being extra cautious of phishing attempts, as attackers may use the compromised information to craft more convincing scams.

Email marketer from Reddit explains the user should use a password manager with unique, randomly generated passwords for each account to mitigate the risk of password reuse.

Expert from Email Geeks shares to keep an extra close eye on emails trying to reset passwords, or access sensitive accounts like banking or other financial, along with your social accounts. possibly run a search of your inbox for terms like password reset, successful login, or other terms like this.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that there isn’t much you can do. One of their addresses got bombed a few years ago (targeted harassment) and most of the volume passed in 48 hours or so.

Expert from Word to the Wise advises contacting your Email Service Provider (ESP) immediately during a list bombing attack to inform them of the situation. ESPs can assist in identifying and mitigating the flood of subscriptions or messages.

Expert from Email Geeks shares they set Anne's Gmail address as “undeliverable” in the Kickbox email verification platform so anybody that uses them to verify addresses at signup will get told to reject yours and set it to expire in 10 days.

Expert from Spam Resource explains that list bombing can significantly impact deliverability as mailbox providers may throttle or block emails due to the sudden surge in volume. This action prevents future emails reaching your inbox.

Expert from Email Geeks suggest to create a rule in your inbox to delete emails with the words "Confirm your subscription", "welcome to". and other repeating phrases from these incoming messages, to have a few less things to look at.

Expert from Email Geeks advises to change your email password and add 2 factor authentication, sign-out all remote sessions and run malware scans on your PC to ensure it's clean; also to get a password manager and use long and unique password everywhere.

Documentation from Federal Trade Commission advises to closely monitor bank accounts, credit card statements, and credit reports for any unauthorized activity and to report any suspicious transactions immediately.

Documentation from CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) recommends running a full system scan with reputable anti-malware software to detect and remove any malicious software that may have been installed during the compromise.

Documentation from Microsoft shares reviewing the permissions granted to third-party apps connected to your email and social media accounts, and revoking access for any apps you no longer use or don't recognize.

Documentation from NIST.gov advises that after detecting a compromise, immediately change passwords for all affected accounts, especially those with shared passwords. Enable multi-factor authentication wherever possible.