I think my dream of working in a SOC one day is what sparked this idea. Every time I hear this song, it genuinely makes me smile. So I thought : why not share the little scene that plays in my head each time? This song is pure gold!
Picture this: Elvis Presley, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, trades in his blue suede shoes for a pair of blue light glasses and a SOC analyst chair.
Instead of hip-swiveling across a stage, he’s swiveling between threat dashboards, SIEM alerts, and suspicious packet captures.
And just like that, one of his most iconic hits “Return to Sender” takes on an entirely new life in the world of cybersecurity.
“Return to Sender… Address Unknown…”
To the untrained ear, it’s just a breakup ballad. But to an email security analyst? It’s the anthem of a spoofed address attack.
You know the drill:
- A spammer forges the “From” field in a phishing email using a legitimate sender’s domain.
- The email bounces—because the recipient doesn’t exist.
- That bounce-back lands right in the inbox of an innocent, spoofed user.
- Signaling a potential compromise.
Elvis, had he been on the SOC floor, might’ve looked up from his console and said:
MX are mail exchange records. They direct incoming emails to your domain’s mail servers. Each MX record points to a server address (like aspmx.l.google.com) with a priority value.Mail is delivered to the lowest priority (highest priority) server first; if it’s unavailable, it tries the next.
“Looks like someone’s tryna rock n’ roll their way through our MX records. Better trace that header and drop the hammer.”
Elvis would be quick to:
- Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
These email security protocols help verify that messages really came from his domain and block spoofed emails from getting through.
SPF – Specifies which IPs or domains are allowed to send emails on behalf of your domain.
DKIM – Digitally signs your emails so the recipient can verify they were sent by you and weren’t altered. This is published in DNS as a TXT record.
DMARC – Tells receiving mail servers what to do with messages that fail SPF or DKIM checks (e.g., reject, quarantine, none). This is configured in DNS TXT Record for _dmarc.yourdomain.com - Monitor for SMTP bounce-back floods – A sudden wave of non-delivery reports (NDRs) could signal that someone is sending spam while pretending to be him.
- Enable Return Path tracking – If Elvis starts getting bounce-backs for emails he never sent, it’s a red flag. That means someone’s faking his identity, and it’s time to investigate.
His updated chorus might go:
🎶 “Return to Sender… this spoof won’t fly.
Headers don’t match, your trust is a lie.
We traced the IP, shut down the game.
So we blocked the whole subnet, goodbye ransomware saga.”
The Real Network Attack: Spoofed Email & Bounce Spam
This attack is sometimes called backscatter spam, a side effect of email spoofing:
- Attackers fake sender addresses.
- Invalid messages bounce.
- The innocent party receives a flood of NDRs (Non-Delivery Reports).
Left unchecked, this clutters inboxes and even triggers spam filters on your domain—damaging sender reputation.
Long Live the King (of Email Filters)
In this alternate universe, Elvis doesn’t just sing about bad returns—he stops them at the firewall.
He’d end his shift with a swagger, saying:
“You can spoof the sender, but the King always reads the headers.”
Pic courtesy : https://pixabay.com/
Disclaimer : This blog post is a lighthearted take on cybersecurity, using Elvis Presley and his song “Return to Sender” as creative analogies. All names, likenesses, and lyrics referenced remain the property of their respective rights holders. This content is not affiliated with or endorsed by Elvis Presley Enterprises and is intended for educational and illustrative purposes only.
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