Cybercriminals have turned a trusted cloud email service into a powerful weapon. Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), widely used for legitimate business communications, now plays a central role in phishing campaigns – sending more than 50,000 malicious emails per day.
The abuse begins with compromised AWS credentials, often exposed through misconfigurations or public repositories. Attackers use these credentials to bypass SES’s sandbox limit, pushing accounts into production mode and gaining permission to send at scale. Once unrestricted, companies unintentionally enable phishing campaigns to launch from their infrastructure – emails appear to come from trusted Amazon domains, making them more likely to reach inboxes and trick recipients.
In one documented campaign, attackers impersonated recognizable brands and sent emails with misleading links. Recipients were directed to sites designed to steal credentials or deliver malware.
Who’s at Risk?
- Financial Services: Customers can be manipulated into revealing banking credentials or transaction details.
- Healthcare: Misused infrastructure can be leveraged to compromise patient data or workflow systems.
- Retail: Supply chain partners and customer segments may receive fraudulent messages, leading to fraud or brand damage.
- Manufacturing: Operational emails may be abused to spread malware and disrupt industrial systems.
- Government: Public agencies risk spear phishing attacks that compromise sensitive communications or decision-making.
Lessons for Organizations
- Secure cloud credentials – regularly rotate access keys, remove unused ones, and avoid hard coding them in code repositories.
- Monitor SES usage – watch for API calls like PutAccountDetails, flagged account mode changes, and new verified identities.
- Enable email authentication standards – implement DKIM and SPF to help email platforms verify legitimate origin.
- Deploy continuous logging and detection – use services such as CloudTrail to track SES activity and detect anomalies quickly.
Conclusion
Weaponizing Amazon SES shows how attackers exploit misconfigurations and trust in cloud services. Even secure organizations can become unwilling launchpads for phishing. A proactive stance – securing credentials, monitoring cloud activity, and validating email authenticity – is essential to stay ahead of these evolving threats.
About COE Security
COE Security partners with organizations in financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and government to secure AI powered systems and ensure compliance. Our offerings include:
- AI enhanced threat detection and real time monitoring
- Data governance aligned with GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS
- Secure model validation to guard against adversarial attacks
- Customized training to embed AI security best practices
- Penetration Testing (Mobile, Web, AI, Product, IoT, Network and Cloud)
- Secure Software Development Consulting (SSDLC)
- Customized CyberSecurity Services
We help institutions secure email infrastructure, protect patient data, safeguard supply chains, defend production systems, and fortify public communications – ensuring cloud services are used safely and compliantly.
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